Western Civ I Questions: Week 11

As I prepare to write a post concerning ancient Western civilization, I stop to ask myself a few questions, find your personal answers if you wish, this will likely come up in my next or last post and might interest you further.

Latin Literature

• How much is Juvenal justified in his anger? Juvenal wrote The Satires, where he is basically venting about and attacking any group of people he can. He occasionally has good points, but they all come out of pure anger and a want to hurt rather than a want to uncover knowledge. How much can we understand and trust those who are like Juvenal in the way they are knowledgeable but are so out of emotion not curiosity? How far can we through Juvenal? What can we learn from Juvenal's behavior?

Roman Emperors

• Why is this the century of “the good emperors”? The following century is known as that of the “good” emperors— although, to the historian, the personal influence of the ruler may appear as no more than one agent, and certainly not the decisive one, in Rome’s evolution. It may be called an age of “benevolent despotism.” During this time, the political as well as cultural trends initiated in the first century persisted; only toward the end of the century did they begin to show a new direction. So who is defining “good” here? What could be the currently used definition of “good” in this instance? How would you define the five emperors known as the good emperors?

• What caused the change in art? It's like the universal aesthetic shifted with the Romans. Statues got better, paintings got worse, buildings went from straight lines to circles and arches. What in the human mind and it's surroundings could've caused this change in what was found pleasing to the eye?

• Why do humans have such big questions throughout history? Philosophy, politics, religion, all things humans come to the conclusion to and question. Take religion as an example, people came up with the myths of the Greek gods, and even the most faithful were unsure. Throughout time more religions have come and gone, or stayed through the years, even with slight differences including denomination. Why do humans tend to ask such big questions? Why do we want / need religion? What causes some to thwart the concept altogether?