RIHLA #5

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part one: questions 1-4

1. Pericles described the Athenian democracy as a government that, "is hands of the many and not the few". He believed that excellence should be rewarded, men should have no excuse to not contribute to his country, little privacy for citizens' thoughts resulted in the belief of avoiding to do wrong, "with respect for the authoritites and for the laws".

2. Pericles dispute of democracy developing from fundemental principles, such as human equality, or having developed from the practical benefits from such a system of government do not seem accurate since they consider their military superior to that of their opponent; consequently, they should have won that war since they "live with ease and are equally ready to face exposure to danger".

3. Pericles has the confidence in the existence that democracy produces citizens' who have a good concept on politics, as well as having the power to think before acting and therefore do not back down to danger. Critics might have responded by saying that if Pericles did believe this then he would not have said, "We alone regard a man who takes no interest in public affairs, not as harmless; but as a useless character...".

4. Despite the fact, Pericles praised Athenian military's acomplishment, his city lost the Peloponnesian War. The ways that this affects my understanding of his arguments, are that their military should not be glorified but should be trained better and advance tactics before they recover their title. The Athenian military needs to improve then show it is making progess to be thought highly of, again.

part two: your opinion

If I were to time travel back to the time of Ancient Greece, I would definetly perfer to live as an Athenian. Sparta from what I have learned is a warrior society. Sparta stresses military value and tough discipline, though I have personally been though this last year and lived though it I am more than sure I could survive in a community like this one. However the women's role was to be fit through exercise in order to produce strong children to be trained to fight. This I could not live with, I feel I could deal with physcial pain but not emotional. I am sensitive when it comes to my emotions; I love kids and I would never want to see children trained into robot-like military children, non-theless would I want to ever see my kids raised this way. And for that reason, and many more, I would choose to live as an Athenian.

part three: quiz

My outcome at the end of my quiz was that I answered the questions most with F's. What this means is that I am Hestia! Hestia, is simple and kind, true and giving. She sees only goodness and never sin. I do agree with my results; similarly, I feel overjoyed that I do have similar qualities to Hestia. I acknowledge that I do have a positive attitude, but Hestia just seems so wonerful to me. I feel amazed to be like her and I even felt a warmth in my heart and smiled to my self when I saw my results.

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