Wonderfully put Dr. Di Leo, but the pre-Rome period is not the last of the greatness of Greece!
I would add the Byzantines of the 500 to 1400s, who held off the resurgent Persians and then buttressed against the Islamic flame. Yes that Greece also fell but while it lived it gave the post Rome Europe time to grow again.
I also raise a cup to the Greece that was never comfortable to their Ottoman conquorers and finally threw off that burden only to have to do the same to the Nazis and the Communists in a more recent generation. Not many people remember but there were Greek Troops in Korea under the UN and Greek banners in 1950-53.
What we see here is the slough of Socialism which, like the camels nose, creeps in from good intentions but stays until all of the money is gone. Can the tough Greek of the past be reclaimed from these honorable ancestors? Time will tell but I certainly hope so.
Thank you so very much, SES1066. Much appreciated!
I see that you are also a student of history, with the date of the Norman Conquest as your handle. Bravo!
And yes, I fully agree. The Byzantine era was indeed the period of many of Greece’s most noteworthy accomplishments, though it moved the locus east a bit to do so...
I focused on the ancient period because I figured that with Alexander as my spokesman, I should speak in his voice, so I focused on his contemporaries and his fifth century predecessors. But that’s just my literary device, not any detraction from your excellent point.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments! It’s a relief (I had feared this was such a peculiar article, nobody might read it!)
Grazie!
JFD