Posts by Megan Chase43

Every time I catch a glimpse of your photo, it just hits me all over again—how incredible it felt to love you.😁

I’m handing this thread over to Rassu—shoutout to Sandra from History Channel

Henry Evans10, you’re basically channeling that old-school Lavin style

🤔 10?

Look, I’m not pushing you 😍

It’s just—I won’t be around for a little while, and I don't want you stuck out there on your own.

The Cure are actually great; they're smart, they've got soul, and they're fun to listen to.

There’s plenty of fascinating stuff regarding Helada, really, but I need to step out of those ancient pagan vibes for a moment—gotta get back to coloring Easter eggs.

See ya later, alligator

Aaron Fox19, just head over there to the countdown and tell them you're a buddy of mine—maybe they'll let you skip the whole bureaucratic headache. Get ready... I hear there are some gorgeous women there.

Where did all the women go?

Impressionism

oh, darling 🙂

🤣

so, what actually happened now 🙂

Honestly, I don't know—just recharging my batteries for a bit. I actually found a friend to gossip with about some women from before the time of Christ, so as soon as I wrap my head around the New Era, here I am.🙂
We're currently hovering somewhere around the 15th Century, even before🕺 but I'll get through this quickly enough,😍 just you
wait and see.

Richard Sanders7 said:Here we go again—you and your clones. 🙄

🤣

Don't go panicking about the machine—it might just be a power outage.☕

What, they aren't long—it’s just a vertical list. Klonovska's work for George, total Klonovska business ☕

So, what did you whip up in the kitchen today? 😍🙂 Bell peppers are still way too pricey for stuffing.

Linear B has been cracked, but Linear A remains a total mystery.

Back when Evans was digging through Knossos, he stumbled upon tablets featuring a script that definitely wasn't an alphabet. We’re looking at two distinct symbol systems that share some DNA but aren't identical—hence the names Linear A and Linear B.
Blegen actually unearthed those Linear B tablets within a Mycenaean palace discovered in the city of Pylos, though later on, more of them turned up right in Mycenae itself.
Now, look—Champollion had his big break with the Rosetta Stone, using that bilingual document to bridge the gap, but for Linear B, there was absolutely nothing like that available. Every single attempt was a dead end until Ventris and Chadwick decided to gamble on the assumption that the underlying language was Greek. Once they did that, the pieces finally started clicking into place, allowing the two of them to decipher about 65 out of the 90 characters.

Because being part of the Greek world was defined primarily by language, this discovery essentially shifts the entire timeline of Greek history. Instead of starting in the 8th century, we’re looking much further back—to the middle of the second millennium BCE, specifically the late 15th Century, because that’s when Mycenae officially enters the historical record.
If you watch the show, you'll see the older professor pointing out how certain local Mycenaean deities actually worked their way into the Greek Pantheon to take their seats on Olympus alongside the others.

Aaron Fox19 said:What's your take on this?

I’m telling you—the host and Professor Helen are essentially one and the same. 🙏I honestly found myself really enjoying both the thread itself and the way they communicated—it was captivating, really. And then, of course, that effortless little flirtation at the very end.😍 Absolutely precious.

The theory regarding the volcano on Tere actually has a second part—at least in certain versions of the story. According to those folks, the eruption triggered a massive earthquake, which then kicked off a tsunami that completely wiped out Crete and surged all the way across the sea to Greece... essentially annihilating the entire Cretan-Mycenaean civilization in one fell swoop. But—and here’s the kicker—they actually found later pottery sitting right there in the ruins.
Man, if that theory actually turned out to be true, it would be a beautiful thing—truly poetic. Imagine a people who held absolute sovereignty over the ocean, living their lives with such ease and comfort, never once looking over their shoulder in fear... only to suddenly feel the wrath of Poseidon one day because they dared to grow too proud, and then, just like that, they vanish forever beneath the waves.

I honestly don't think people realize just how massive this discovery actually was—we’re talking about pushing the existence of the Greek language back by several centuries. The deciphering of Linear B changed everything. These tablets weren't some epic poetry; they were pure administrative grit—inventories, warehouse lists, bureaucratic nonsense—which gives you a crystal-clear window into what daily life was actually like in Mycenae. You can see those Eastern influences bleeding into Crete, sure, but the core of the culture remains distinctly their own. It’s really just the Minoan culture extending its reach into Greece... I can almost picture Agamemnon rolling his eyes because the Cretans don't have any suspenders.

I had no idea Ventris possessed such a photographic memory... honestly, that explains a lot about his process. If he were still around today, he probably would have cracked Linear A himself—it’s almost a certainty. It really baffles me that, even with all the cutting-edge technology we have at our disposal nowadays, we still can't manage to make that breakthrough.🤷

Thanks, Aaron Fox19, it’s lovely.

I've spent time wandering through Mycenae, Epidaurus, Delphi, and—of course—all the major sites around Athens. Mycenae itself was actually closed off for some construction work, but I managed to catch a glimpse of the Lion Gate. Honestly, if you've dedicated any part of your life to studying this culture, being physically present there to soak up the atmosphere is absolutely vital. I didn't feel truly settled until I finally laid eyes on Parnassus.😁

Aaron Fox19 said:Can we even wrap our heads around the idea that a single, mid-sized American city could actually function with such a perfectly organized system today? I’m talking about a layout where the drainage is seamless, the street cleaning is flawless, and the entire urban blueprint—from the grid of the streets to the precise placement of residential homes, temples, and the central plaza—is executed with absolute precision. It feels almost impossible to imagine such intentionality in modern urban planning.
Everything has been meticulously organized—honestly, it’s about time. It's high time we acknowledged that Sparta was lagging seriously behind, especially considering they never really placed enough importance on urban planning and things of that nature.

I was hunting around for some kind of representation of Achilles when I stumbled upon this—it’s actually quite interesting. Some kids were putting together a presentation on the broad strokes of colonization, specifically focusing on those very first Ionian colonies over in Asia Minor.
And finally, here’s the most fascinating part—something I honestly hadn't realized until now—that the Old City Field on Hvar, acting as this perfectly preserved slice of ancient Greece, actually dictated how land was divided across the entire Mediterranean...

http://www.slideshare.net/Strukovnas...a-prezentacija

😍

Plato actually had a wicked sense of humor—you just have to look past the dense metaphysical stuff to see it. 😬

Aaron Fox19 said:He hurls his spear with such raw, violent force that it pierces right through Achilles' shield—just like that.
Achilles moves his shield away from his body with lightning speed—anything to avoid the impact.
Impact.
It never even crossed his mind—not once—that the shield is a divine creation, and that it is...
Impervious to the hands of any mere mortal.
So, looking at those five plates—how many shields did he actually have? It breaks down like this: two were made of bronze, two were zinc, and just one was solid gold.

The Iliad dedicates about 150 lines to the shield—specifically in Book 18—and honestly, it’s one of those moments where the pacing just shifts entirely. After the tragedy of Patroclus, when Achilles finally decides to rejoin the Greeks in the fray, Hephaestus gets commissioned to forge this masterpiece up on Olympus. It isn't just armor; it's an entire universe captured in metal.

The Iliad, Book 18.

11.
Hephaestus is forging a brand new shield for Achilles.
(468-608)

a) Preparations (468-477)

That’s how he says it—just walks away from her like that—and by the time he finally reaches his breaking point, he’s already lost everything.
You just turn up the heat on them—really make them feel the burn—and then you order them to get to work.
Twenty massive bellows start pumping into those furnaces at once—
It’s pretty obvious to anyone paying attention—those guys are nothing more than a total sham, just waiting for the moment they can start burning through cash like it's going out of style.
Hephaestus is all over the place—one minute he’s working with frantic intensity, and the next, he just stops dead in his tracks. It's infuriating.
It’s always the same story—how he acts when things actually get serious versus how he demands work from everyone else. It’s a total double standard.
He claims it’s copper and tin—just raw materials tossed straight into Hephaestus's fire.
And then there’s the gold and silver—all that overpriced glitter—followed by a full-scale onslaught.
The anvil is massive compared to the blacksmith's plan—and that hammer is absolutely huge.
Take it with your right hand, but use your left to grab the pliers.

b) Commencing work on the shield (478-482)

First off, there’s the shield—it’s massive, cumbersome, and frankly, a total pain everywhere you go.
The crown—and let me tell you, it was quite the piece—was encircled by this brilliant, shimmering halo.
It’s magnificent—truly a triple threat of design—and then, just to top it all off, he adds a silver belt.
There were five plates set upon the shield—with Hephaestus looming above them.
Many of them shape their images through sheer skill and the power of their own will.

b) The depiction of the celestial vault (438-489)

First, you create the earth, then the heavens, and finally, you craft the sea.
The sun that never tires, and the moon in its full glory—it’s just constant, isn't it?
And all those lights that have scattered themselves across the entire sky—
Regarding Orion the giant, the Pleiades, and even the Hyades—
The Bear—which some people also call the Circle—is always...
He paces back and forth in the exact same spot—just constant, restless movement—while his eyes remain locked on that giant, unable to look away.
He’s the only one who wouldn't dive headfirst into the Atlantic just to make a quick buck.

(...)

The twenty songs are dedicated to the Battle of Achilles and Aeneas—it’s all quite grand, really. At the very start of the singing, you have this entire chorus of gods up on Olympus, until Zeus decides to send them down to stir the pot and meddle directly in the fight.

Aaron Fox19, you really are a poet of historical events, aren't you? 😍

To pivot away from philosophy for just a moment—this poet was a true Heraclitean--

Laza Kostić

A Singing Hymn to John Damascene

To the god of zephyrs, to the god of storms,
to the lord of the sonic spheres,
to the god of the nightingale and the god of the worm,
to the lord of the thundering lightning:
you, the curse of earthly delusions,
you, the song of celestial dreams,
carry it to him, holy John,
along with the echoes of our pain!

To the God of the blessed, blissful kiss,
to the hellish passion that writes of paradise,
to the lord of the desperate cry,
shattering the endurance of eternal hopes:
you, the curse of earthly delusions,
you, the song of celestial dreams,
carry it to him, holy John,
along with the echoes of our pain!

To the God of the silence of a living grave,
to the god of the order of eternal sleep,
to the lord of gods, to the lord of slaves,
to the mute god of wordless dread:
you, the curse of earthly delusions,
you, the song of celestial dreams,
carry it to him, holy John,
along with the echoes of our pain!

To the Lord of the reaping of brittle swords,
when the final battle is joined,
to the god, who through the clatter of broken things
makes the lyre sing of victory;
you, the curse of earthly delusions,
you, the song of celestial dreams,
carry it to him, holy John,
along with the echoes of our pain!

To the god of zephyrs, to the god of storms,
to the lord of the sonic spheres,
to the god of the nightingale and the god of the worm,
to the lord of the thundering lightning:
you, the curse of earthly delusions,
you, the song of celestial dreams,
carry it to him, holy John,
along with the echoes of our pain!

Maybe he leaned into substance, but historically, people have always credited him with that holistic grasp of dialectics—the idea of seeing the world as one complete, interconnected system.🤷
The guy was a hardcore aristocrat through and through—a descendant of the Athenian royal line who had zero patience for "the masses"—and yet, somehow, the Marxists managed to hijack his legacy. It’s honestly pathetic.🤣.

Actually, this isn't half bad... considering how much Zoroastrianism might have influenced the whole concept of the dictatorship of the proletariat.😁

stormybison42👋

What is wrong with today's youth? They’re obsessed with Hellenic philosophy, and honestly, I get it. 😬

Aaron Fox19 said:I’d like to emphasize two specific points here...

I was watching this documentary recently—I think it was a CNN production—that compared Athens and Sparta, specifically regarding their city-states and their infrastructure...
Can we even imagine a mid-sized American city today having such a perfectly organized drainage system, street cleaning, urban planning, and a precise layout of houses, temples, and the agora?
Everything was literally dialed in, whereas Sparta lagged far behind because they didn't place nearly as much importance on urban development and things of that nature.
Their sole objective was the creation of an absolutely unquestionable military powerhouse—stretching all the way up to Mount Taygetus...
They were forging a warrior, a man of war, dedicated to Ares...
In stark contrast, Athens was busy developing a much broader philosophy...

Didn't Aristotle envision a world where all kings would be philosophers and vice versa?
Wasn't it ultimately the Greek attempt to transcend lower human traits and ascend toward something truly worthy of admiration...

They were always striving to create something new. After all, they understood better than anyone that Man is essentially a fickle, vulnerable, and often quite difficult-to-understand two-legged animal...

I see why you find them so compelling—that drive to enrich life with substance that goes beyond mere existence and doesn't just stop at religion. There are so many vital aspects of their culture; their beauty and thought are, in my view, among the most significant.
It seems to me that when it comes to urbanization, the Romans actually held the edge; at one point, the city of Rome had a population of 2 million. That takes...
Actually, I don't recall Aristotle saying that exact thing—he might have, but to me, it sounds more like ideas pulled from Plato's Republic. I know Aristotle believed the best political community is one formed by the middle class. The wealthy, according to him, tend to be disobedient due to childhood indulgence and can only rule despotically. The poor are too humiliated and weak to follow principles of reason or to command, so they must be ruled like slaves.

stormybison42 said:It’s not even that original of a culture or thought; Heraclitus (my favorite) basically took everything from Persian Mazdaism, which he encountered in Asia Minor.

Look, there was definitely influence—there’s no avoiding that. They utilized the knowledge of the Egyptians and Babylonians, but they did it in their own way. They took existing knowledge and analyzed and systematized it. The Egyptians measured the Earth, and the Greeks turned that into a logical, structured whole: geometry. The Babylonian priests watched the skies to discern the whims of the gods, while the Greeks used those same observations to study the geometric laws governing celestial bodies and so on.
Hippocratic doctors claimed that illnesses had natural causes, whereas Easterners wouldn't dream of moving away from magical practices... and so on.
As for Heraclitus, according to all "relevant sources," he was an original thinker. He was influenced by Anaximander, who was influenced by Thales of Miletus... Maybe they just had the same dealer in Persia... but that's a whole different conversation.😁

Look, Heraclitus is just one single figure when you consider the sheer scale of that entire culture—he’s just one part of the whole thing. Even if they all happened to be working with the same supplier, that doesn't change the fact that there were probably ten thousand other people out there coming up with groundbreaking ideas at the same time. And who knows how much else was lost to the flames or just vanished into thin air over the years?

I know Aaron Fox19, but let’s not forget—those who actually had the luxury of being free had nothing but time to sit around and think, mainly because those who weren't free were too busy working.😁

Now, regarding this second point... religious systems... even there, freedom of thought faced very real boundaries. After all, they sentenced the most "free" man of them all to death simply because he doesn't believe in the gods (and supposedly corrupts the youth). That’s how Plato describes the death of his mentor, but here is what my dear teacher has to say about him...

"It is difficult to convincingly defend the view held by both Marvin Prati and others—that the Greeks were the ones who pioneered a truly rational worldview, a supposed cornerstone of Western civilization. Prati himself points out that mythical modes of thought still linger within the philosophies of both Plato and Aristotle. This applies primarily to Plato, who viewed the Sun and the stars as divine beings, and whose ideal state was anything but a product of purely rational design. Plato’s state is strictly hierarchical, led not necessarily by philosophers in the modern sense, but by those who subscribe to the theory of Ideas—not to mention that this thinker was a fervent advocate for a repressive, totalitarian form of government where a privileged elite would dictate even the styles of artistic storytelling, punishing anyone who deviated from these prescribed norms with exile—which, in those days, wasn't much better than a death sentence..."

Nikola Milošević, The Intellectual Physiognomy of Europe.

Hey rowdylynx98

Aaron Fox19 said:Antifraza—that’s essentially proof of their level of consciousness, isn't it? They actually used their heads. They didn't just blindly follow whatever was wrong... they were capable of recognizing logic.

Oh, they knew plenty. We’re talking about ten centuries of a singular, cohesive culture that touched every single facet of human existence.
Even just looking at literature—which, mind you, took massive hits from things like the fire at the Library of Alexandria, the shift from parchment to papyrus, and those iconoclasm crises back in the Byzantine Empire—we still have the names of two thousand writers left to us.

"In the eyes of the Greek, the defining human quality wasn't intelligence, as widely understood today, but rather a specific kind of courage known in their tongue as arete ... Their favorite heroes were Achilles, the bravest of men, and Ulysses, whose brilliant spirit would have been worthless without his fearless heart...
The lesson of Greece is less political and more moral; it's a lesson in modesty and temperance that keeps a person grounded. A man is capable of understanding, yet also capable of ignoring; he loves life, yet remains acutely aware of its fleeting nature; he uses his intellect with enjoyment, but never forgets that the future belongs to the Gods...
That Greek individual experienced the full weight of human passion while remaining fully aware of his own weaknesses. That's why he doesn't despise his opponent. "

Back to the prisoners😁

"The enemy here isn't always a subordinate, and his defeat, when it happens, doesn't strip him of his right to mercy.
It was said that Achilles felt a sudden surge of love for the warrior Penthesilea at the very moment he dealt her a fatal blow on the battlefield..."

Shamoux