Cyprus-Forum.com

[GreekIslandGirl]

Up until yesterday I thought this thread was a monument to the sadness of this misguided situation.

Unfortunately, it's since been overtaken by half-educated fools who peddle their stupidities such as all historical monuments being built by slaves. As though the great marble and statue Artists that had pride of place in previous societies had no hand in their creation and construction.

The minds of some so-called-westerners are as unworthy as those we identify as ISIS. Back to the idea that it's individuals that are the scourge of humanity and not communities...

[Lordo]

where are the gold fields in egypt that lavished in the tombs of the pharaohs. was it not stolen from africa elsehwere. was there no slaves working on the parthenon.

[Paphitis]

Up until yesterday I thought this thread was a monument to the sadness of this misguided situation.

Unfortunately, it's since been overtaken by half-educated fools who peddle their stupidities such as all historical monuments being built by slaves. As though the great marble and statue Artists that had pride of place in previous societies had no hand in their creation and construction.

The minds of some so-called-westerners are as unworthy as those we identify as ISIS. Back to the idea that it's individuals that are the scourge of humanity and not communities...

I didn't say anything or insinuate such things.

Geravnoss did. I was just being sarcastic as that is the only way to fight such stupidity.

In no way did I say all monuments were built by slaves or insinuate that they should be destroyed as result of that, and of course, all of them many of these constructions were built by Artists, Great Architects, Engineers and so forth.

In no way do i want to see these great relics destroyed forever. They belong to all of humanity, whether in Cyprus, Greece, Egypt, Syria or Iraq. It was very distressing to see the destruction DAESH has done in Iraq, and I hope Palmyra survives somehow.

[GreekIslandGirl]

was there no slaves working on the parthenon.

You are wise to ask instead of assume ...

All bought and paid for by Athenians and a means to employ its citizens to improve their wallets.

The Parthenon was built under the general supervision of the artist Phidias, who also had charge of the sculptural decoration. The architects Ictinos and Callicrates began their work in 447 BC, and the building was substantially completed by 432, but work on the decorations continued until at least 431. Some of the financial accounts for the Parthenon survive and show that the largest single expense was transporting the stone from Mount Pentelicus, about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from Athens, to the Acropolis. The funds were partly drawn from the treasury of the Delian League, which was moved from the Panhellenic sanctuary at Delos to the Acropolis in 454 BC.

- and from Christopher Hitchens ...

The original construction of the Parthenon involved what I call Periclean Keynesianism: the city needed to recover from a long and ill-fought war against Persia and needed also to give full employment (and a morale boost) to the talents of its citizens. Over tremendous conservative opposition, Pericles in or about the year 450 b.c. pushed through the Athenian Assembly a sort of stimulus package which proposed a labor-intensive reconstruction of what had been lost or damaged in the Second Persian War.

As Plutarch phrases it in his Pericles:

The house-and-home contingent, no whit less than the sailors and sentinels and soldiers, might have a pretext for getting a beneficial share of the public wealth. The materials to be used were stone, bronze, ivory, gold, ebony and cypress-wood; the arts which should elaborate and work up these materials were those of carpenter, molder, bronze-smith, stone-cutter, dyer, veneerer in gold and ivory, painter, embroiderer, embosser, to say nothing of the forwarders and furnishers of the material It came to pass that for every age almost, and every capacity, the city’s great abundance was distributed and shared by such demands.

Αχ Ελλάδα σ’ αγαπώ ...και βαθιά σ’ ευχαριστώ ...

[Paphitis]

Ooh, looks like we have a half-educated dimwit taramasalata for brains telling fibs.

Slaves worked alongside free men to build the Parthenon!

[Tim Drayton]

Even if slaves built something, why should we not stand and gaze in marvel? It does not mean we approve of slavery, just that the building fills us with wonder - unlike DAESH which supports and promotes slavery in breach of international law.

[Lordo]

was there no slaves working on the parthenon.

You are wise to ask instead of assume ...

All bought and paid for by Athenians and a means to employ its citizens to improve their wallets.

The Parthenon was built under the general supervision of the artist Phidias, who also had charge of the sculptural decoration. The architects Ictinos and Callicrates began their work in 447 BC, and the building was substantially completed by 432, but work on the decorations continued until at least 431. Some of the financial accounts for the Parthenon survive and show that the largest single expense was transporting the stone from Mount Pentelicus, about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from Athens, to the Acropolis. The funds were partly drawn from the treasury of the Delian League, which was moved from the Panhellenic sanctuary at Delos to the Acropolis in 454 BC.

- and from Christopher Hitchens ...

The original construction of the Parthenon involved what I call Periclean Keynesianism: the city needed to recover from a long and ill-fought war against Persia and needed also to give full employment (and a morale boost) to the talents of its citizens. Over tremendous conservative opposition, Pericles in or about the year 450 b.c. pushed through the Athenian Assembly a sort of stimulus package which proposed a labor-intensive reconstruction of what had been lost or damaged in the Second Persian War.

As Plutarch phrases it in his Pericles:

The house-and-home contingent, no whit less than the sailors and sentinels and soldiers, might have a pretext for getting a beneficial share of the public wealth. The materials to be used were stone, bronze, ivory, gold, ebony and cypress-wood; the arts which should elaborate and work up these materials were those of carpenter, molder, bronze-smith, stone-cutter, dyer, veneerer in gold and ivory, painter, embroiderer, embosser, to say nothing of the forwarders and furnishers of the material It came to pass that for every age almost, and every capacity, the city’s great abundance was distributed and shared by such demands.

Αχ Ελλάδα σ’ αγαπώ ...και βαθιά σ’ ευχαριστώ ...

only by chance they found out what it mean to build such structures to the poor. is there any evidence of slave remains in the vicinity and what damage the carrying of such stones caused to their body. they found recently grave of teenage workers remains from building the pyramids. hard to believe the locals with voting power would do this whilst their slaves drank wine in their gardens.

pull the other one my dear - all the empires of that period were built on slavery. greek empire and the parthenon is not an exception. the question was a rhetorical one.

[Paphitis]

Even if slaves built something, why should we not stand and gaze in marvel? It does not mean we approve of slavery, just that the building fills us with wonder - unlike DAESH which supports and promotes slavery in breach of international law.

I agree. It doesn't matter in the slightest.

[Lordo]

even if the slaves were abused and maltreated? there is evidence of bone deterioration in young children working on the pyramids from carrying excessive loads. it puts a different complexion on the matter.

[Tim Drayton]

So let these edifices stand as monuments to this disgusting treatment lest we forget and fail to say 'never again'. All the more so at a time when DAESH is placing Yazidi children in market places with price tags attached to them.