World History I

Chapter 7: Interaction and Adaptation in Western Eurasia: Persia, Greece, and Rome
550 BCE-600 CE

33: Wed, Jan 7, 2026

Please post in the forum for the day a short essay in response to this question:

We have seen a number of different kinds of communities in other civilizations, including families, cities and states of different sizes, and religious groups. Here we see some additional types emerging—the intellectual communities embodied in such schools as the Academy of Plato, the Lyceum of Aristotle, and libraries such as the Library of Alexandria. There is also the looser community created by a shared artistic or literary experience. In this period, we see written historical narratives (not all that unlike the history we're studying in this class) become a way to define communities past, present, and future. For example, conquerors like Alexander justify their invasions on the grounds of past wrongs that need to be righted. The early Greek historian Thucydides addresses readers who may one day evaluate Athens or Sparta in terms of their ruins, or who may someday identify the Athenian plague.

• How do these kinds of communities compare to the others we’ve discussed?
• How can we account for their longevity and even transcendence of place and time?

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