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For The Historical Record

© Suzi Goode

FOR THE HISTORICAL RECORD

What do you want to be remembered for in a hundred years? Would it be preposterous to suggest that your descendants would remember you in two thousand years? Is this too much to wish for unless you are one of the lucky few who is famous today? How long does fame last? What are the qualities which make for enduring fame?

After two thousand years, few individuals will stand out from the milieu of society in general. Even if they are remembered for formulating the equation on how to obtain the sides of a right-angled triangle (Pythagoras), or for conquering much of the known world of the time (Alexander the Great), how can we know what made these people laugh and cry? How can we take a look into their personal lives to see what made them laugh and cry?

What was life in Ancient Greece like? Was it all that different from how we live now? How can we reach out and attempt to touch these people, perhaps smell a woman's perfume or see a toddler playing with a prized toy? What mindset do we need to relate to how people lived two thousand years ago?

We can do little more than set aside preconceived notions about what Ancient Greeks were like. What preconceived idea do you have? Is it a stereotype? Do you think of them as uncivilized because they did not have computers so they could communicate over vast distances or because they didn't have indoor plumbing? How much do we enrich our understanding of them as well as of ourselves if we lay aside these types of limiting ideas?

Archeologists and historians attempt to learn about not only the Ancient Greeks but other ancient peoples by excavating sites that are believed to have historical importance. Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890), a German archeologist, enjoyed reading Homer's ILIAD and ODYSSEY. He decided to search for the lost city of Troy solely on the evidence Homer presented in these epic poems.

In 1870 he found the ruins of Troy and uncovered objects made from gold, bronze and silver - objects which predated Homer's ILIAD by over a thousand years. In 1876, after more searching, he found the ruins of an ancient city, Mycenae, on the plain of Argolis. Mycenae was the foremost city in the Aegean about 1400 B.C. Within the ruins, Schliemann found a drinking cup worked from thin gold which had to be hammered back into shape. Men like Schliemann, curious about the past, have rediscovered rich sources of history which tell the stories of very real people.

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