3/23/2013

Zeus and God

            Athens and Jerusalem, Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian, Caesar and Christ; these are the most influential cultural forces in history. What are the differences, what are the relationships, and can you tell a Jewish story in an Athenian way?

            The first thing to know is that Romans and Greeks drive to be rulers. They can be bullies and are second banana to no one. The competitor of Athens was Sparta, another Greek polis.  The Greeks were more divided than the Romans, but were united by religion and language. Athens was a very religious city and the greatest polis ever. However, over time, the population was decreasing in spirituality and the thunder of Zeus was becoming a work of art and little more.

            The music of ancient Greece reflects their culture; it was sound, calming and simple. When really focusing on the music, it used an elegantly flowing single instrument, maybe by a few or a single musician. Some Italians during the renaissance times believed that the Greeks told their stories in an operatic way, with just a few people. The Greeks were always proud to capture their virtues in their music and art and to be, of course, the best man they could possibly be. Homer’s works (probably sung operatically as well) is like thunder with a crown; political, large, and immortal, this is the adult Greek (and later Roman) bible. Just like Homer is much like their Bible, Aesop’s is also like their Doctor Sues. These stories shaped the ideas of the Greeks and the ideas helped decide what actions they took every day. You could say the stories made the cultures.

Aesop’s 39. the Flea and the Man

“A Man, very much annoyed with a Flea, caught him at last, and said, "Who are you who dare to feed on my limbs, and to cost me so much trouble in catching you?' The Flea replied, "O my dear sir, pray spare my life, and destroy me not, for I cannot possibly do you much harm." The Man, laughing, replied, "Now you shall certainly die by mine own hands, for no evil, whether it be small or large, ought to be tolerated."

Do not waste your pity on a scamp.

            Now truly people do not call Jerusalem the cradle of society. However, Athens compared to Jerusalem is the city of reason. Jerusalem being the city of faith. Jerusalem is a city where the Jewish religion had its center. The temple of Jerusalem was the place where every Jewish person would go once a year or at least once in their lifetime if they lived very far. They would go there to worship. Jerusalem was the place where the Chosen people of God, what the Jewish people called themselves, had their capitol.

            Jerusalem and the Jews lived their whole life in a world that was under the control of laws that holy men gave them from God. Moses, Abraham, and all the prophets got the word from God and passed it on to the people.

            The Greeks and the people they influenced, the Romans, spent a lot of time with laws they made to rule themselves. The government thought up these laws and even the religion obeyed the government. Jerusalem was the opposite. In Jerusalem, the law that everybody obeyed came down from Heaven. God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses so when the government or the king wanted to know what to do they had better listen to God and not the laws they might want to make.

            Both cities seemed to go to the same place from different directions. Athens loved virtue and that gave them a life that might have made their Gods Happy. I think the Greek Gods would be upset if someone were evil. Jerusalem loved their God and obeyed the rules of the prophets that came from their God. That made them live with virtue and that might make them happy in their lives. Athens made their Gods happy by having virtue and Jerusalem had virtue because they obeyed God and then that made them happy. I think both cities are like wonderful gifts to the human race and we can learn from both of them.