From jmpfund@bgnet.bgsu.edu Sun Sep 30 18:03:04 2001 Received: from mailscan1.cac.washington.edu (mailscan1.cac.washington.edu [140.142.32.16]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.11.6+UW01.08/8.11.6+UW01.08) with SMTP id f91133N98322 for ; Sun, 30 Sep 2001 18:03:03 -0700 Received: FROM mxu2.u.washington.edu BY mailscan1.cac.washington.edu ; Sun Sep 30 18:03:03 2001 -0700 Received: from GOLIATH.DACOR.COM (ns1.dacor.net [63.174.195.2]) by mxu2.u.washington.edu (8.11.6+UW01.08/8.11.6+UW01.08) with ESMTP id f9112vu16562 for ; Sun, 30 Sep 2001 18:03:01 -0700 Received: from [63.171.164.85] (max2-85.dacor.net [63.171.164.85]) by GOLIATH.DACOR.COM with SMTP (Microsoft Exchange Internet Mail Service Version 5.5.2653.13) id TJXN3311; Sun, 30 Sep 2001 21:02:49 -0400 Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Sender: jmpfund@mailstore.bgsu.edu (Unverified) Message-Id: In-Reply-To: References: Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 21:03:19 -0400 To: classics@u.washington.edu From: "James M. Pfundstein" Subject: Dispilio disputandum est (reply to Sotiropoulos) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" At 10:33 PM +0000 9/30/01, S S wrote: >Hmm... yes, well, I suppose it must be galling to some (who reside >in the purported "land of liberty") to know that there are still >places where people can believe, read, write, and accept what they >choose, as opposed to what others would have them swallow without >question. Yes, it's disturbing to think that such behaviour abounds >in the very cradle of democracy (I hope we're still in agreement >that the Greeks did at least invent democracy)... Nothing is more common nowadays than someone who has confounded the right to speak with the right to be beyond criticism. In a free society, everyone has the former, but no one has the latter. SS has, as is his custom, been a little beforehand in claiming the crown of martyrdom. I share Joe Gannon's bemusement that anyone who can claim a past as glorious as that of ancient Greece should be even slightly interested in these specious archaeomarvels. But the chauvinist, I guess, is like the horse-leech's daughters: nothing can ever be enough. >BTW, where did the Phoenicians take "their" writing system from? >Has anyone done a "rigorous" study? I've read that the oldest sample of Phoenician script was unearthed at Gebal/Byblos (modern Jbeil in Lebanon), and is datable to 1200 (or so) BC. Word on the street is that it seems to be an independent cultural development (like the later Greek innovation of vowels). I don't pretend that any of this stuff meets SS's own high standards of intellectual rigor, but it might give him a start in his independent investigation. JMP("Proverbs 30:15-16") .