Blog #2

2 Commentsby   |  01.31.13  |  Student Posts

Many of Greek culture has influenced our thinking today. There are multiple parallels that I see in today’s society and what I learned about the Greeks. For one, the idea of passion and living from the “appetite” and Plato would say is apparent in the Greek culture. One example is the idea of watching men fight to the death as a pleasurable thing.

Are You Not Entertained?

Although we don’t have gladiators anymore thank goodness, we have a similar concept dealing with sports. We pay big bucks to sit in a stadium and watch two teams spar it out with strategic tackles and immense pressure. I understand that this is mostly voluntary on their part and the ultimate goal is not death, but you have to admit that there are similar qualities in modern day football and greek gladiator.

On a different note, the standard of intelligence and reason as a high value in Greek culture still exists today. In society, we place much emphasis on attending college and getting a masters to be able to get a job. Usually the higher the education, the more wealth you are able to attain. This emphasis of education resulted in government positions and were usually considered the “upper class” in Greek culture.

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2 Comments

  1. Josh Marshall
    2:08 pm, 01.31.13

    Well said! The correlation between gladiators and modern day sports are very similar. Granted the stakes were much higher for the gladiators, but the “kill or be killed” mindset is still prevalent in current sports. The gladiators fought for their lives, and football players play for a living. They are different, but are still the same basic concept of it being a lifestyle of survival.
    I thought this was very well thought out and that you put it into an interesting perspective. Thanks for sharing!

  2. Avia Gray
    7:17 pm, 01.31.13

    Hi Katie,

    I loved that you used sports as a parallel to classic Greek gladiators. I think the fact that we still have the Olympics around shows how the Greek have directly affected and has forever influenced the idea of the being the bravest, fiercest and most heroic as honorable characteristics. We could even say that about our class system, especially in America. Those who fight the hardest in school or the workplace ultimately want to be on top.

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