As we clearly roll into Autumn, I have become ever more conscious of the concept and idea of winding down.
It is clear from the garden and the local trees of course: things are dying back - leaves become golden yellow or red before plummeting towards the ground, garden plants drying up. It is evident in the daylight hours as well: here in New Home 2.0 we have lost almost 90 minutes of daylight in the last five weeks. Sunset is now well before 1900 and will continue to fall; in a mere 3 months it will set before 1630.
Which honestly works out. The combination of decreased garden responsibilities and decreased sunlight make a pleasant combination.
It has given me much to think on about the general winding down of things as well.
As I am spending more time now in civilization's distant past thanks to my ongoing Classical Studies, one becomes intensely aware of the disconnect between reading about civilizations that were at their height and those civilizations now. Study enough of their history, and one will find that civilizations, just like Nature, have their own periods of winding down.
Mycenean Greece - where I have spending the bulk of this week through The Iliad - did not foresee the 12th Century B.C. disaster (whatever it actually was; we still do not fully know) that would overwhelm the entire civilization for almost 400 years. Its successor, Classical Greece, did not realize its end coming in turn in 338 B.C. when, at The Battle of Chaeronea, the entire structure of the last 500 years had passed to Macedon and what would become the Macedonian Empire.
And Macedon to Rome. Etc., etc.
I look out my window at the Autumn sunlight - now clearly in its Autumnal look - and think of the turning leaves and falling civilizations and even my own winding down as Winter comes.
Autumn is not inherently a period of defeat of course; the winding down is merely the precursor for Spring. Leaves left to decay become the humus of tomorrow. The same is true for civilizations as well: without Mycenean civilization, who knows that Western civilization would have taken the path that it took?
It gives some hope for my own winding down for the season, of course. Even if it will be in ways that I cannot fully imagine this side of Winter.
History teaches us that no civilization lasts forever, and the common feature seems to be a sort of denial that a collapse can happen within one's own lifetime.
ReplyDeleteI hope you will continue to favor us with insights from your classical studies. My personal study time has been focusing on ancestral roots and hence ancient Britain. I have been surprised to discover how much the ancient Greeks knew about the ancient Celts and their language, and vice versa. I've always thought of them has being isolated, but apparently thanks to the Phoenicians, quite a bit of travel, trade, and exploration went on back then.
Leigh, I have to admit that I am having more fun than I probably should with my "education vanity" project. It has certainly given me an "excuse" to spend time reading about and thinking about things that I enjoy.
DeleteIn terms of the collapse of a civilization in one's lifetime - the Greek orator Isocrates lived from 436 B.C. to 338 B.C. During that time he would have seen the collapse of the Athenian hegemony in the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.), the rise and fall of the Spartan Hegemony (404-371 B.C.) and Theban Hegemony (371-362 B.C.), and defeat of the Greek City states at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 B.C.; reputedly he starved himself to death after the battle as he saw this as the loss of Greek freedom. In a similar manner, I suspect many miss the signs of their times due to the contemporaneous nature of events, missing larger trends.
The world that existed during the Carthaginian and Greek periods - say 700 B.C. to 146 B.C. - is endlessly interesting. There were a lot more connections than we originally believed.
The march of time reveals that loss of daylight by two, three or even four minutes each day TB, sunrise today is 0716 and sunset is 1645. Been reading your blog in the dark for several weeks now and for my area no killing frost yet though Up North the freezing mark has been broken. Less daylight, leaves turning and falling, perennials shutting down....time to bring out the wool-blend socks, mornings are getting a bit less warm........:)
ReplyDeleteWow Nylon12 - That is far earlier than I would have expected. A little surprise there is no killing frost yet, but I suspect it is coming soon.
DeleteI am starting to circulate through my long sleeved attire as well.
This morning, it was chilly enough that even my light jacket let some chill through. Fall has definitely arrived here.
ReplyDeleteEd, I am hopefully you get some non-Fall rainy weather before it rolls over into Winter.
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