Tom Holland

Going down fighting

Both the Greeks and the Jews were haunted by the image of a burning city.

issue 22 May 2010

Both the Greeks and the Jews were haunted by the image of a burning city. Indeed, there is a sense in which their radically differing attempts to exorcise it served to define their respective cultures. Among the Greeks, it was believed that everything most glorious about mortal achievement, and everything most terrible about mortal suffering, was to be found in the narrative of the siege and sack of Troy.

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