Sunday, October 15, 2006

Parthenon


On top of the Acropolis the ancient Parthenon stands high above Athens. I was hoping to find some sense of wonder, expecting to feel radiations of secrets from a place of great mystery. But I came away with the feeling that the Parthenon had really been dominated by the men who walked on its floors while talking of things no one ever talks about anymore.

The Parthenon was the hatchery of Ideas. Here Plato strolled, talking collegially with the great men of the world who came to Athens to exchange their Ideas with each other and climb the great heights of new knowledge. Plato also wrote extensively of a New Republic and established a great Academy here. He walked here with his own mentor, Socrates. the great Gadfly of Humanity who called himself a midwife who helped men give birth to Ideas. The great men of the world came here to the Parthenon to meet and talk with each other, and too often  they met up with Socrates who professed to know only his own self ignorance and could only ask simple questions of the great philosophers. But those were questions that left them auguring with themselves - not so much with each other - but mumbling each to themselves.

Plato’s student, Aristotle, also walked here and blinded the world with his brilliance. And Aristotle's student, Alexander, called The Great, left the Parthenon to conquer the known world. But the glory that had been Greece was already gone – truthfully – about the time Socrates was born.

The Parthenon, I sense is patient. Perhaps it will still be waiting when humanity enters another Age of Ideas. Then it will certainly smile and shine again. Perhaps it will last long enough to be a bridge between human epochs. Then again, maybe it is simply a “barometer” of sorts that constantly displays how important Ideas are to mankind.

20006.1016

© John Womack, 2006. All rights reserved.
photo by Canon Elura 70 with SD card

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