Ancient Greece

Lilly Ciurca

Assignment 3

Ancient Greece

Plato’s allegory begins in a cave, where prisoners see nothing but a wall with shadows on it made by those behind them. The prisoner realized there was more to life than what was on the wall when he had escaped and saw the real world. This allegory has a lot of meaning behind the symbols it describes. Some prisoners might have believed there was more than a wall, but others couldn’t believe it because they didn’t see it. Those making the shadows might represent someone who is stronger than us, who controls someone because they have the strength to. Examples might include parents and guardians, politicians, and much more. Leaving the cave for a little bit, was enough to change the way the prisoners saw the world, but was never a thought to them before, because they didn’t know there was more to life.

The speech in Pericles’ funeral oration made statements about those who had lost their lives in the Peloponnesian war. In Ancient Greece, man’s wealth is not the deciding factor of who can rule. He states, “Wealth is for use, not show”. They are equal, and not separated by what they do or do not have. A man can rule and serve if he would like to, and it does not matter his social class or wealth. He is showing everyone that they are lucky as a community to live in a democracy. To all the listeners, this speech was extremely meaningful and showed what that had and how great it is.