Alexander Chalkidis

Author: alexanderchalkidis

  • Greek on a soapbox

    Will try and keep this short and unGreek in drama.  I am a Germanotsolias according to many people here.  The term refers to the police collaborators with the Nazis and is very fashionable again.  Ι write in full knowledge that I am probably going to be pinpointed by this, already the Press is facing ridiculous inquisitions on political grounds.

    Europe I am sorry.   We just kept taking your money, lying through our teeth and spending it.  Even just before the referendum, our government was busy hiring more civil servants under various guises.  Even after the referendum, our ministers are lying to your face.  They are not going to make any proposals.  Even if you give away all our debt and accept all our terms, they won’t sign any agreement.  They don’t need to.   61% of half the voting age Greeks, voted No to the referendum.  Some of them were fooled.  Many of them truly believe that now is the time to start a global revolution against banks, the European Union and the shortcomings of the global economy from our country.

    I am sorry.  I know it sounds ludicrous.  It is preposterous.  Imagine what we feel like.  That 39% that managed to vote “YES”, despite all the pressure.  Despite seeing close friends suddenly lose touch with reality with a religious fervour that is truly frightening.  People that should have known better.  They studied abroad, they do business with other countries, they work with the European Union yet….somehow they manage to disregard reality.  For some it is a knee jerk reaction to being accused by others.  For some it is an indirect admission of guilt.  They feel we should be reduced to rumbles in order to work our way back up.  They imagine it as a quick musical interlude in a corny American movie, a dramatic song, our hero working overtime and then…everything is fine ten minutes later and the movie ends.

    On top of it all, our latest government has played the “Europe needs fixing” card in a way which is criminal.  Just as the Scottish referendum showed the UK how to move towards a more Federal model and things are moving in the right direction, comes the Greek bulldozer.  So let this be a warning to you all.  For too long, European politicians have blamed Europe.  It was the easy choice.  Be careful what sows you seed and by all means, don’t allow your current politicians to lead you to fanatical choices.

    Maybe Europe doesn’t “work” for you.  If you have a strong economy, reliable politicians and social cohesion maybe you can do something better on your own.  Just don’t rush into it.

  • Aristotle on sleeping with sheep

    It is warmer if you sleep with goats than it is with sheep.  Sheep are more nervous, whereas goat  snuggle up close to people in the night.

    History of Animals – Aristotle

  • Philosophy pays

    Thales of Miletus was often mocked for being poor.  Some said that this proved his philosophy was useless.  But while studying the stars one winter, Thales discovered that it would be particularly good weather that season for olives.  He subsequently leased all the olive presses he could.  Both in his home town of Miletus but also on Chios island.    The lease was cheap.  No one else made a bid.   Many months later, the time to harvest came.  It was indeed a great year, so they all needed oil presses.   Since their need was urgent and Thales controlled all the presses, he increased the price for his services and made a lot of money.

    This was how he showed everyone that if a philosopher sets his mind to it, he can indeed make money.  But he chooses not to.

    Politics – Aristotle 

  • Were Greeks always easy to sway?

    It is surprising that this trick worked.  Greeks have always been more intelligent than barbarians.  And Athenias even more so, they are the smartest of all Greeks.

    Yet Pisistratus the tyrant, got his position back with a very simple trick:  he found a pretty and quite tall girl from the peasants and dressed as if she were the godess Athena.  With full armor and other accessories the girl rode with him in a chariot.  And Pisistratus had heralds announce that Athena herself was bringing him back to power.

     

    (Herodotus – Histories, 1.60)

     

  • A dog, actually my best friend. For real!

    Xenophanes often mocked Pythagoras for believing in the transmigration of souls.   According to him, once Pythagoras heard a dog which was been beaten and shouted “Stop!  Do not beat that dog!  It is the soul of a dear friend of mine, I recognize the voice!”

  • Plagiarism detection tricks

    Heraclides amazingly proposed (back then) that earth has a 24 hour cycle of revolution on its axis.  However  he wasn’t as perceptive in other matters:

    “Dionysios had written a tragedy which he called Parthenopaeus.  As a practical joke, he put Sophocles as the author when it was written .   When Heraclides quoted as if it really was by Sophocles in one of his works.  Then Dionysius told him it was a joke but of course Heraclides didn’t believe him at all.  Then Dionysius told to look at at thethe opening eight lines.  The first letter spelled the name of his lover, Pancalus.  Then Heraclides said that this may have been coincidence.

    Then Dionysius told him that he could also find an acrostic which said “Old monkeys do not fall into traps.  Well, they do in fact but it takes a long time.”  He had also hidden in the manuscript as an acrostic the phrase “Heraclides is not ashamed that he doesn’t understand writing.”

    Lives of the Philosophers – Diogenes Laertius

     

     

  • Semen tic differences

    In Histories, Herodotus claims that Ethiopians (as he had also claimed about Indians elsewhere) produce black semen.  Aristotle however criticizes this view:

    “…as if a person of black skin is black in every part.  But the teeth of a black person are white.”

     

     

  • Make books, not war

    When Athens was captured by barbarians, all the books were gathered from the city in one place so they could be burnt.   But one of the barbarians changed the minds of his fellows by saying that it would be best if the Athenians read all day as they liked, so they didn’t fight.  It would be easier in this way to hold the city.

    Zonaras

     

  • Censorship, Greek style

    With oligarchy, a few power took power and so all poets lived in fear.  It became impossible to openly make fun of anyone, they could take you to court.  Eupolis criticized Alcibiades in his work “Batpae” and decided to drown him in the sea.

    This created even more fear in poets as “Baptae” means “Bathers”.

     

  • Fifty shades of gay Spartans

    When you got married, the first night, your Spartan bride got a haircut like a man’s.  She was dressed by her attendant in male clothes and left in a dark bedroom on a couch.  You came to her carefully from the military quarters because nobody must hear you or catch you.  This goes on for some time and many Spartans even got their wives pregnant before they even saw them in daylight.

    Life of Lycourgos – Plutarch