(page 21) - Chapter II
So-called Greek Philosophy Was Alien To The Greeks And Their Conditions Of Life

Page 21

CHAPTER II:

So-called Greek Philosophy Was Alien To The Greeks And Their Conditions Of Life.

1. The Period of Greek Philosophy (640-322 B.C.) Was A Period of Internal and External Wars, and Was Therefore Unsuitable For Producing Philosophers.

HISTORY supports the fact that from the time of Thales. to the time of Aristotle, the Greeks were victims of internal disunion, on the one hand, while on the other, they lived in constant fear of invasion from the Persians who were a common enemy to the city states.

Consequently when they were not fighting with one another they found themselves busy fighting the Persians, who soon dominated them and became their masters. From the 6th century B.C. the territory from the coast of Asia Minor to the Indus Valley became united under the single power of Persia, whose central territory Iran has survived as a national unit to the present day. Persian expansion was like a nightmare to the Greeks who dreaded the Persians on account of their invulnerable navy, and organized themselves into Leagues and Confederacies in order to resist their enemy. (C. 12 P. 195; Sandford's Mediterranean World). There are three sources which throw light on the chaotic and troublesome conditions of this period in Greek history. (A) The Persian Conquests (B) The Leagues and (C) Peloponnesian wars.

A. The Persian Conquests

After the Persians had conquered the Ionians (possibly ancient Hittites), and made them their subjects, Polycrates (539-524 B.C.) seized the Island of Samos and made it a famous city. (Sandford's Mediterranean World c. 9). Between

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