The Greeks were Nazis

Pete, as usual you make an extremely interesting point. Indeed, the critical thing about Archimedes may not be what he did, but his "legend" -- what he symbolized, what he TRIED to do! And, I believe that point might be generalized to the whole of Graeco-Roman society, to the entire classical world. Because, we must face the fact that in practical material terms, the enlightened "Classical World" was sheer, bloody hell for human beings! Indeed, they lived far shorter and more brutal lives in "civilized" society than they had in the brutish, savage old stone age! All that civilized living in cities, all that slavery, all that pursuit of trade and empire had them dropping like flies! You see, Pete, while the Greeks had the Promethean ideal of being like Gods, really, all they succeeded in doing was living in pestilential, overcrowded cities, driving slaves to death on worthless megaprojects and killing each other in meaningless warfare over useless wealth and power! Their knowledge of medicine and health care was non-existent, the Hippocratic-Galenic tradition was utterly worthless, indeed, highly injurious to health! All we have to do is look at the great plague of Athens, which cost the Athenians to Peloponnesian War, to recognize that the Athenians didn't know the first thing about proper sanitation or health care. Their physics and cosmology were absolute nonsense, their mathematics virtually non-existent, their philosophy and social science mere entertainment and fantasy. Really, the whole of Graeco-Roman society was Nazism -- racism, slavery, war, systematic exploitation for meaningless "profit". And, the only reason we "respect" these societies is that many of the wealthy and powerful today are Nazis themselves, self-serving fools destroying themselves and others in the meaningless and self-destructive pursuit of profitless profit. These are our great Capitalists! To Hell with them, and to Hell with Graeco-Roman society!

They

A gentle kiss, Scarcely a caress But so very familiar So caringly, lovingly similar To his long lost child Who died. So, knowing the shaded forms were his That it was his fate To nurture this lost essence Only visible in fleeting shadows of death He fled Fearful for sanity, and madness. But, is not the conquest of the impossible, The recreation of the unlivable The only viable means of conquering The human condition? Based on Rudyard Kipling's short story "They" (1904).