The Gettysburg Address, Greek Style!

History

What most impressed me about Greek civilization is the revere they gave their dead. Courtney did a great job of pointing out about how they celebrated those who died in battle. She mentioned when Thucydides points out about those who died at marathon. I was curious so I did a bit of research and it looks like that is referring to the battle of marathon which seems to be the turning point in the Persian war. They revered them because that is where their country was born, or at least flexed its muscles to show that the ideals that they stood for could withstand one of the greatest armies on earth. Certainly the Greeks had very high respect for that battle the way we revere those who fought in the revolutionary war.

Did Lincoln get his inspiration
from Pericles?

Rhetoric

Now, as my title says, this reminded me so much of the Gettysburg address. The arrangement of both speeches is essentially the same.

• Talk about the founding of your country and ideals.
• Talk about how what you say cannot honor these men anywhere near the sacrifice they have already made. 
• Talk about the cause they were fighting for .
• Encourage all those present to continue on in that cause.

As Macey R pointed out, this speech definitely has some deliberative points in it, and based on the situation I must say that I think it is right to do so. So did Lincoln.

Philosophy

First, I agree with Thomas that this speech shows aspects from each category, and rightly so. (He does a great job of showing why). Specifically though I wanted to comment on how he would fit in with Socrates. Remember, Socrates said “the unexamined life is not worth living.” As an Athenian he is always examining, and he points out that all Athenians should examine the politics, for to do anything else would be an injustice to their system. Alexander shows that the people are not arguing for the sake of arguing, but for progression. What better example can there be of a people examining their lives?