Lots of ideas came to mind while reading this month's book selection, Cleopatra: A Life by Stacey Schiff. As a member of the From Left to Write Book Club, I received a copy of this book for review. You can read the other members posts inspired by this book on Sept. 27 here. I thought about writing about misconceptions in history (Cleopatra wasn't Egyptian!) or how real life makes for a good story (Cleopatra's life is full of very interesting stories...).
However, what I kept coming back to were the things the author mentioned that Cleopatra knew...way back in BC! Cleopatra knew the earth was round-she knew of the existence of the equator_that just blew my mind! This was B.C., people! Didn't we just "discover" this a few hundred years ago?? What happened-and why-did we have to learn this all over again? I was so impressed with the education of these ancient people. It's amazing (and sad) to me that so much knowledge was lost and had to be relearned. I'm wondering about our own future. What will be lost? What will my great-grandchildren know that I don't know or will they know less? We seem so advanced today, but in a way, so did the Egyptians and Romans of the day. Will another Dark Ages happen on earth?
4 comments:
Very good point! I was thinking the same thing, I was especially amazed with the mechanical statue that rode on the float! I don't understand what happened either. I guess it was a case of people taking over a country and seeking to invade and destroy every part of their culture, including their knowledge.
It seems the world is still intent on doing that, we have NOT learned from history.
That was fascinating to me, too! The Library at Alexandria was huge loss to civilization.
Joy's Book Blog
I agree, it's amazing we can ignore such advancements but apparently it does happen. Just yesterday I was looking at some photos of the damage from Hurricane Irene in the Outer Banks. People were actually blaming "the environmentalists and their lawyers" for the damage. Which amazed me, because it was the DEVELOPMENT on the island that is causing it to become so fragile and unstable. If people didn't clearcut the land to build houses, then those roots would hold more sand and be stronger.
So, yes, it's happening right before our eyes even at this moment. Makes me wonder how we'll look to those in future generations! Great post!
Love your post. Definitely food for thought, albeit FRIGHTENING food for thought indeed. It does make mankind feel pretty small thinking that perhaps all that we have strived to achieve and study may one day easily be lost again...
Post a Comment