Greek Vs. Modern Violence essays

Greek Vs. Modern Violence essays Violence As It Is Portrayed In The Modern Media vs. The Ancient Greek Media When one thinks of ancient Greece, the word that comes to mind is civilized. Ancient Greece is considered to be the birthplace of Western Civilization, and therefore of our modern society. If it wasnt for the Greeks, civilization never could have evolved to its current high-water mark, found right here in the USA. In some ways, however, the Greeks achieved a level of sophistication and worldly understanding that our modern society cannot match. Specifically, the Greeks had a much better understanding of violence and its consequences, as opposed to our society, which seeks to glamorize violence, as well as detach it from our lives. This understanding was present in their media, specifically tragedies such as Antigone, Oedipus At Colonus, and King Oedipus, all by the Athenian playwright Sophocles. These works have violence included in them, but the focus is on the consequences of these violent acts, not on the actual violence itself. Our so-called civilized society could learn a thing or two from the ancient Greeks about the consequences of violence, instead of just glamorizing it for the masses. The ancient Greeks of Sophocles time lived in a world that was much more violent, at least on a day-to-day basis, than the world most of us live in. The Peloponnesian War was taking place, which meant that the Greeks were fighting one another on a regular basis. For the most part laws could regulate violence between citizens of a polis, but violent acts carried out against the citizens of another polis, or even violent acts carried out against a polis itself, were basically unregulated. The Greeks had no illusions about the glamour of violence, because they experienced it everyday in its harshest form, civil war. This is completely different from the world we live in. Sure, there is plenty of violence in our society, b...