07-10-2012, 02:30 PM
Quote: It doesn't make much sense to say that the Macedonians were western in 300 BCE and eastern in 200 BCE...
I think it makes every bit of sense: the Iranians were just as eastern to the Greeks, as the Greeks were to the Romans. History was then made from the west, in two consecutive waves, with each conquest movement starting from the Western periphery of the civilized world, until the center of the ancient world had moved from the Euphrates and Nile over the Aegean to the Tiber, the Far West. It is perfectly legitimate to analyse this change of power balances in east-west terms (as Herodot himself already does in his introduction), because world power flowed along these geopolitical lines with Western powers being the main driving forces in this period.
Stefan (Literary references to the discussed topics are always appreciated.)
