1. Debt, division and revolt. Here's the 6th Century BC news from Athens.
In the early 6th Century BC, the people of Athens were burdened with debt, social division and inequality, with poor farmers prepared to sell themselves into slavery just to feed their families.
Revolution was imminent, but the aristocrat Solon emerged as a just mediator between the interests of rich and poor. The Seisachtheia plan abolished debt bondage, limited land ownership, and Solonian Constitution divided the citizen body into classes with different levels of wealth and corresponding financial obligations.
His measures, although attacked on all sides, were adopted and paved the way for the eventual creation of democracy.
Solon's success demonstrates that great statesmen must have the courage to implement unpopular compromises for the sake of justice and stability.
(κάτι κάναμε, σεισάχθεια υπογραφών)
Για να το σώσουμε αυτό: μη δημοφιλείς συμβιβασμούς για την τάξη του, ως αριστοκράτης. Τώρα, υπάρχει διακριτή τάξη ή περιφέρεια στην Ελλάδα, που είναι υπόχρεη σε άλλη τάξη ή περιφέρεια; Αν είναι εσωτερική μας υπόθεση το χρέος, τότε έχει νόημα ο Σόλων. Αλλιώς, πρέπει να θεωρήσουμε ότι βαδίζουμε προς ένα ομόσπονδο ευρωπαϊκό ή παγκόσμιο κράτος, και ο Μπαρόζο, η Λαγκάρντ αντίστοιχα, ως νέοι Σόλωνες θα σείσουν το άχθος μας. Και η Μέρκελ θα λάβει μη δημοφιλή για το λαό της μέτρα σύγκλισης προς τον Ευρωπαϊκό Νότο.
How would the gods on Mount Olympus
tackle the IMF and the bond markets?
2. What happens next? The Delphic oracle (always ambiguous enough to be right afterwards, rather like modern economists)
Ancient Delphi was the site of Apollo's oracle, believed to be inspired by the god to utter truths. Her utterances, however, were unintelligible and needed to be interpreted by priests, who generally turned them into ambiguous prophecies.
In response to, say, "Should Greece leave the euro?" the oracle might have responded: "Greece should abandon the euro if the euro has abandoned Greece," leaving proponents and opponents of "Grexit" to squabble over what exactly that meant. It must have been something like listening to modern economists. At least the oracle had the excuse of inhaling the smoke of laurel leaves.
Wiser advice was to be found in the mottos inscribed on the face of Apollo's temple at Delphi, advocating moderation and self-knowledge: "Know thyself. Nothing in excess."
Χρησμός: «Η Ελλάδα θα πρέπει να εγκαταλείψει το ευρώ αν το ευρώ έχει εγκαταλείψει την Ελλάδα»
Θα κόψουμε, λοιπόν, δικό μας νόμισμα, αν οι ευρωκόπτες μας κόψουν την παροχή και την αποδοχή των ομολόγων μας, αλλά μέχρι τότε: "δεν το κουνώ από παέ, εκτός και ανέ με διώξουνε!", κάπως έτσι πάμε τη δουλειά, με σκιερά υπενθύμιση πως ίσως αναγκαστούμε στην έξοδο μόνοι μας.
Σημειώνει ωστόσο ότι η πιο σοφή συμβουλή είναι τα περίφημα Δελφικά παραγγέλματα: «Γνώθι σ' αυτόν» και «Μηδέν άγαν».
Αν είχες γνώθι σ' αυτόν, δεν θα έμπαινες πρώτη στο ευρώ, και αν είχες και αίσθηση του μέτρου, θα δαπανούσες δάνεια μέχρι εκεί που φτάνει η τσέπη σου. Θα ψηφίζαμε, δηλαδή, λιγότερο δαπανηρούς λαρτζ πολιτικούς.
Κι αν έχεις γνώθι σ' αυτόν, μην πανα βγεις πρώτος από το ευρώ, ας πάρει άλλος την πρωτιά, να δούμε εμπειρία. Όποιος δεν κάθεται καλά και τη δραχμή γυρεύγει, η αλεπού του κώλου του κουκιά του μαγειρεύγει, εκτός και αν γίνει λήψη καλής συμβουλής, πώς και με τί θα πάμε στη δραχμή.
χμ...οι αρχαιολάτρες μάλλον θέλουν δραχμή, οι ευρωσκεπτικιστές του οικονομικού φιλελευθερισμού, και αυτοί δραχμή. «Αφήστε την Ελλάδα να χρεοκοπήσει» λέει ο δήμαρχος του Λονδίνου, του Αρμάνδου φίλος, και καλεί τη Βρετανία να αρνηθεί τη συμμετοχή στη διάσωση της χώρας μας. telegraph.co.uk/Boris-Johnson-let-Greece-go-bankrupt-and-leave-the-euro. Μάλιστα ο Βόρις έκανε και δοκυμαντέρ με τίτλο "Όνειρο της Ρώμης" και ερώτηση, "γιατί η φιλελεύθερη Ρώμη κατάφερε να ενώσει την Ευρώπη και οι γραφειοκράτες των Βρυξελλών δυσκολεύονται;"
On the other hand, Armand D' Angour's personal view (as a non-economist) is that a Greek exit from the Euro would be a moral and financial disaster for the whole world, not just for Greece. The stronger nations of Europe should be committed to helping all who are in the Euro, and to help them do the right things to resolve their problems. Responsibility must be taken by all parties in this crisis greekreporter.com/2012/06/10/what-would-the-ancient-greeks-think-about-modern-greeces-debt-crisis-an-expert-weighs-in/
3. Nothing new under the sun: The sage Pythagoras
If modern Greeks feel overwhelmed by today's financial problems, they might take some comfort from remembering the world-weary advice from their ancestor Pythagoras that "everything comes round again, so nothing is completely new".
Pythagoras of Samos was a 6th Century BC mystic sage who believed that numbers are behind everything in the universe - and that cosmic events recur identically over a cycle of 10,800 years.
His doctrine was picked up by the biblical author of Ecclesiastes in the 3rd Century BC, whose phrase "Ουδέν καινόν υπό τον ήλιον", There is nothing new under the sun" is repeated more than 20 times.
If you look at the picture, it seems to prove the proposition.
Email from the past? Not an ancient Greek laptop,
but a writing tablet on a vase from 470 BC
Το πυθαγόρειο νόημα: "δεν υπάρχουν ατόφια νέα γεγονότα". Όλα έχουν ειπωθεί, πραγματωθεί, και κάνουν τον κύκλο τους με διαφορετικό ντεκόρ, λόγια και ενδυμασίες, ώστε απλώς χρειάζεται να ανοίξουμε τα παλιά βιβλία και τις επιγραφές, και ένας καλός ερμηνευτής θα ξύσει τη λύση. Τόσο απλά και αυτοαναφορικά. Αρέσκει μοι.
Worse things happen at sea: Homer's Odyssey
shows the spirit of fortitude in adversity
4. Mind you, it could be worse…Odysseus and endurance
"Hold fast, my heart, you have endured worse suffering," Odysseus exhorts himself in Homer's Odyssey, from the 8th Century BC.
Having battled hostile elements and frightful monsters on his return home across the sea from Troy to his beloved Ithaka and wife Penelope, Odysseus here prevents himself from jeopardising a successful finale as a result of impatience.
The stirring message is that whatever the circumstances, one should recognise that things could be, and have been, even worse. Harder challenges have been faced and - with due intelligence and fortitude - overcome.
ἰφθίμους ἑτάρους...
(υ 18-20)
«Βάστα καρδιά, χειρότερα δεινά βαστούσες τη μέρα που μού 'τρωγε ο αδάμαστος ο Κύκλωπας τους δυνατούς συντρόφους» (~μτφ. Αργύρη Εφταλιώτη, υ 18-20,από την οποία κοπαστώθηκε στη μετάφραση ο στιχάριθμος 20 στη λέξη γενναίους 20 συντρόφους)....υπάρχουν και χειρότερα σε Ασίες και Αφρικές, γιαυτό θαρρείτε Έλληνες.
"A martyr to moral inquiry":
Statue of Socrates outside the Bank of Greece in Athens
5. Are you sure that's right? Socrates and tireless inquiry
"The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being," said Socrates.
By cross-examining ordinary people, the philosopher aimed to get to the heart of complex questions such as "What is justice?" and "How should we live?" Often no clear answer emerged, but Socrates insisted that we keep on asking the questions.
Fellow Athenians were so offended by his scrutiny of their political and moral convictions that they voted to execute him in 399 BC, and thereby made him an eternal martyr to free thought and moral inquiry.
Socrates bequeathed to humanity a duty to keep on thinking with tireless integrity, even when - or particularly when - definite answers are unlikely to be found.
Αυτά που απ' τα βάθη των αρχαίων συμβουλεύω σας, τώρα στέκουν; αυτοαμφισβήτηση...τί είναι οικονομία; τί συνομοσπονδία;
6. How did those jokers end up in charge? Aristophanes the comedian
The most brilliantly inventive of comic playwrights, Aristophanes was happy to mock contemporary Athenian politicians of every stripe. He was also the first to coin a word for "innovation".
His comedy Frogs of 405 BC, which featured the first representation of aerial warfare, contained heartfelt and unambiguous advice for his politically fickle fellow citizens: choose good leaders, or you will be stuck with bad ones.
Πώς αυτοί οι γελωτοποιοί γινόντουσαν "εισαγγελείς"; γιατί τους έπαιρναν στα σοβαρά; O κωμικός Αριστοφάνης, o πιο εφευρετικός των κωμοδιογράφων, χαιρόταν να σατιρίζει τους σύγχρονούς του Αθηναίους πολιτικούς κάθε λογής. Ήταν επίσης ο πρώτος που έπλασε τη λέξη καινοτομέω, (Σφήκες) δέξαι τελετὴν καινὴν ὦναξ, ἣν τῷ πατρὶ καινοτομοῦμεν. Η λέξη καινοτομία γεννήθηκε στην κωμωδία, που σημαίνει πως με ξύλινη σοβαροφάνεια ή μελαγχολική διάθεση δεν πρόκειται να καινοτομήσεις, να φρεσκάρεις το μυαλό σου, να κατεβάσεις νέες ιδέες, απλώς θα ορθοτομείς αναμασώντας τα δοκιμασμένα και σίγουρα.
καὶ μὴν ὅτι μὲν χρηστὰ διδάξω πιστεύω: τοὺς δὲ θεατάς,
εἰ καινοτομεῖν ἐθελήσουσιν καὶ μὴ τοῖς ἠθάσι λίαν
τοῖς τ᾽ ἀρχαίοις ἐνδιατρίβειν, τοῦτ᾽ ἔσθ᾽ ὃ μάλιστα δέδοικα.
Βλέπυρος
περὶ μὲν τοίνυν τοῦ καινοτομεῖν μὴ δείσῃς: τοῦτο γὰρ ἡμῖν
δρᾶν ἀντ᾽ ἄλλης ἀρχῆς ἐστιν, τῶν δ᾽ ἀρχαίων ἀμελῆσαι.
Praxagora
I believe my ideas are good, but what I fear is that the public will cling
to the old customs and refuse to accept my reforms.
Blepyrus
Have no fear about that. Love of novelty and disdain for traditions,
these are the dominating principles among us.
Η κωμωδία Βάτραχοι (405 π.Χ.) περιέχει την πρώτη περιγραφή
εναέριας χημικής επίθεσης.
εναέριας χημικής επίθεσης.
Εὐριπίδης
αἴροιεν αὖραι πελαγίαν ὑπὲρ πλάκα,
ναυμαχοῖεν κᾆτ᾽ ἔχοντες ὀξίδας
ῥαίνοιεν ἐς τὰ βλέφαρα τῶν ἐναντίων.
Τον Κινησία αν κάναμε φτερό για τον Κλεόκριτο,
και αγέρηδες τους σήκωναν ψηλά στο ίσιο πέλαγος,
κι αν ναυμαχούσαν έχοντας στα χέρια ξιδομπούκαλα
θα έβρεχαν τα βλέφαρα των Σπαρτιατών εχθρών μας!
Euripides
If you feathered Cleocritus with Cinesias,
the breezes would lift them over the ocean's plane.
If there were a sea battle, and then they had bottles of vinegar,
they could squirt them in the enemies' eyes.
αλλά και ειλικρινείς, ξεκάθαρες συμβουλές για τους ευμετάβολους
συμπατριώτες του: "διαλέξτε καλούς ηγέτες, ή θα σας μείνουν οι κακοί".
συμπατριώτες του: "διαλέξτε καλούς ηγέτες, ή θα σας μείνουν οι κακοί".
Ευριπίδης
ὅταν τὰ νῦν ἄπιστα πίσθ᾽ ἡγώμεθα,
τὰ δ᾽ ὄντα πίστ᾽ ἄπιστα.
όταν αυτούς που δεν πιστεύουμε πιστέψουμε,
και αυτούς που πιστεύουμε αμφισβητήσουμε.
7. Should we do the same as last time? Heraclitus the thinker
"You can't step into the same river twice" is one of the statements of Heraclitus, in the early 5th Century BC - his point being that the ceaseless flow of the water makes for a different river each time you step into it.
Hippocrates: "Wishful thinking will not produce a cure"
A sharp pupil pointed out "in that case you can't step into the same river once", since if everything is constantly in flux, so is the identity of the individual stepping into the water.
While change is constant, different things change at different rates. In an environment of ceaseless flux, it is important to identify stable markers and to hold fast to them.
Bond markets, debt and bail-outs must feel like a similar challenge.
Απέναντι στην πυθαγόρεια, ινδική φιλοσοφία, "τα πάντα κύκλος εστί", ο Ηράκλειτος προειδοποιεί: τὰ πάντα ῥεῖ, τὰ πάντα χωρεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει", "δὶς ἐς τὸν αὐτὸν ποταμὸν οὐκ ἂν ἐμβαίης". Δυο φορές δεν γίνεται να σε σώσουν, σώσου τώρα μόνος σου.
Hippocrates: "Wishful thinking will not produce a cure"
8. Tell me the worst, doctor. Hippocrates faces the facts
Western medicine goes back to Hippocrates, late 5th Century BC, and doctors still take the "Hippocratic oath". An extensive set of ancient medical observations details how patients fared when they were treated by means such as diet and exercise.
What is exceptional in ancient thinking about health and disease is the clear-sighted recognition that doctors must observe accurately and record truthfully - even when patients die in the process.
Magical or wishful thinking cannot bring a cure. Only honest, exhaustive, empirical observation can hope to reveal what works and what does not.
Σημασία στην επιστήμη έχει να πετύχει η εγχείριση, ακόμη και αν μας φύγει ο ασθενής. Η εμπειρία που συλλέχτηκε θα βοηθήσει τον επόμενο, το επόμενο κράτος που θα υποστεί εγχείριση βοήθειας και ανάταξη της οικονομίας του.
9. Seizing the opportunity: Cleisthenes and democracy
The ancient Greeks were strongly aware of the power of opportunity - in Greek, kairos. Seizing the moment - in oratory, athletics, or battle - was admired and viewed as an indication of skill.
.In many cases, such temporary innovation, born of the moment, will be more enduring, especially if successive innovators build on its principles.
When the tyrants of Athens were deposed at the end of the 6th Century, the leading citizen Cleisthenes needed to think up a constitution that would cut across existing structures of power and allegiance.
He devised with amazing rapidity a system of elective government in which all the citizens (the Greek word "demos" means "the people") had a single vote - the world's first democracy.
Ποιά είναι η αντίστοιχη κλεισθένεια ευκαιρία για το 2012; Ίσως ήταν η αναθεώρηση του συντάγματος που μας χρεκόπησε.
10. Big problem, long bath: Archimedes the inventor
Asked to measure whether a crown was made of pure gold, the Sicilian Greek Archimedes (3rd Century BC) puzzled over a solution.
The story goes that when he eventually took a bath and saw the water rising as he stepped in, it struck him that an object's volume could be measured by the water it displaced - and when weighed, their relative density could be calculated.
He was so excited by his discovery that he jumped out of the bath and ran naked through Syracuse shouting "Eureka!" - Greek for "I've got it!"
Finding the solution to a knotty problem requires hard thinking, but the answer often comes only when you switch off - and take a bath.
Όπως, λοιπόν, η λέξη καινοτομία γεννήθηκε στην κωμωδία, έτσι αν είσαι και όλη μέρα μουτρωμένος και πολύσκεφτος, θα μπλοκάρεις, και δεν πρόκειται ιδέα να κατεβάσεις. Λούσου και χαλάρωσε.
Armand D'Angour is a lecturer in classics at the University of Oxford and author of The Greeks and the New: Novelty in Ancient Greek Imagination and Experience. Φέτος θα κυκλοφορήσει και το Eureka!: Seven Principles of Innovation from Ancient Greece. Πώς σκέφτονταν οι Έλληνες για το καινούριο, τον νεωτερισμό, και την καινοτομία;
The Greeks have long been regarded as innovators across a wide range of fields in literature, culture, philosophy, politics and science. However, little attention has been paid to how they thought and felt about novelty and innovation itself, and to relating this to the forces of traditionalism and conservatism which were also present across all the various societies within ancient Greece. What inspired the Greeks to embark on their unique and enduring innovations? How did they think and feel about the new? This book represents the first serious attempt to address these issues, and deals with the phenomenon across all periods and areas of classical Greek history and thought. Each chapter concentrates on a different area of culture or thought, while the book as a whole argues that much of the impulse towards innovation came from the life of the polis which provided its setting.
τοῖς τε νέοις τόδ' ἔθηκα τὸ βιβλίον τοῖς τε παλαιοῖς·
καὶ γὰρ γηράσκω καινὰ διδασκόμενος
I’ve made this book with young and old in view:
for I grow old discovering what’s new.
Δυστυχώς, το μόνο δικτυωμένο βίντεο στα αλβανικά,
"Çfarë do të bënin grekët e lashtë, që ta shpëtonin Greqinë?"
"Τί θα έκαναν οι έλληνες οι παλαιοί, για να σώσουν την Ελλάδα;"
αν και πιασάρικο ρεπορτάζ, δεν χώρεσε στα ελληνικά κανάλια.
Το μόνο ελληνόφωνο ως τώρα μέσο που ασχολήθηκε,
και πήρε συνέντευξη απ' τον Αρμάνδο
είναι οι United Reporters.gr
Το μόνο ελληνόφωνο ως τώρα μέσο που ασχολήθηκε,
και πήρε συνέντευξη απ' τον Αρμάνδο
είναι οι United Reporters.gr
-Καταρχάς να σας πω ότι ο τίτλος που επέλεξε το BBC είναι ελαφρώς παραπλανητικός", διευκρινίζει αμέσως.
-Δηλαδή δεν μπορούμε να πάρουμε συγκεκριμένες απαντήσεις από την αρχαία Ελλάδα για να λύσουμε τα προβλήματα που αντιμετωπίζει η σύγχρονη;
-Όχι, σαφείς απαντήσεις δεν υπάρχουν. Πρέπει να το ξεκαθαρίσω αυτό. Δεν μπορείς να αξιοποιήσεις την ιστορία για να δώσεις συγκεκριμένες λύσεις σε σύγχρονα προβλήματα, κάθε πρόβλημα και κάθε κατάσταση διαφέρει
-Πιστεύετε ότι οι σύγχρονοι Έλληνες δικαιούμαστε ειδικής μεταχείρισης για τη συμβολή αυτή των προγόνων μας;
-Οι Έλληνες δεν δικαιούστε ειδικής μεταχείρισης λόγω του ένδοξου παρελθόντος σας, διότι ήδη είστε πολύ τυχεροί να διαθέτετε τόσο πλούσια ιστορία. Unitedreporters.gr/Deixte megalytero sevasmo stoys arhaioys Ellines
....
Around 800 BC the Greeks – possibly one Greek man – modified the Phoenicians’ script by establishing regular vowel-symbols (A E I O Y) to create the world’s first true alphabet. The alphabet economically and comprehensively permits the phonetic transciption of a potentially infinite number of thoughts and propositions. One form of this alphabet was eventally adopted by the Romans to become the Latin alphabet used all over the world today.
The story of the alphabet’s creation is a wonderful demonstration of one of the most common and productive mechanisms of innovation: the creative modification of an existing structure to fulfil a perceived need.
The economic and social crisis affecting the Greeks - and other nations in Europe – has led some people to question me on two issues unrelated to the purpose of the work: 1) if the Greeks were so brilliant, how have they got themselves into this mess? and 2) what ‘new’ ways can my research suggest for solving the Greeks’ problems? I won’t bother with the first, but after some pressure to address the second I succumbed to writing a piece for the BBC news education website, which was given the misleading title Ancient Greek solution for debt crisis. There is, of course, no single ancient Greek solution; but engaging with brilliant and innovative ancient Greek thinkers can certainly suggest helpful and productive ways of addressing challenging or intractable situations. http://www.armand-dangour.com/greeks-and-the-new/
....
Around 800 BC the Greeks – possibly one Greek man – modified the Phoenicians’ script by establishing regular vowel-symbols (A E I O Y) to create the world’s first true alphabet. The alphabet economically and comprehensively permits the phonetic transciption of a potentially infinite number of thoughts and propositions. One form of this alphabet was eventally adopted by the Romans to become the Latin alphabet used all over the world today.
The story of the alphabet’s creation is a wonderful demonstration of one of the most common and productive mechanisms of innovation: the creative modification of an existing structure to fulfil a perceived need.
P.S.
The economic and social crisis affecting the Greeks - and other nations in Europe – has led some people to question me on two issues unrelated to the purpose of the work: 1) if the Greeks were so brilliant, how have they got themselves into this mess? and 2) what ‘new’ ways can my research suggest for solving the Greeks’ problems? I won’t bother with the first, but after some pressure to address the second I succumbed to writing a piece for the BBC news education website, which was given the misleading title Ancient Greek solution for debt crisis. There is, of course, no single ancient Greek solution; but engaging with brilliant and innovative ancient Greek thinkers can certainly suggest helpful and productive ways of addressing challenging or intractable situations. http://www.armand-dangour.com/greeks-and-the-new/
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