Thucydides quote help! (1 Viewer)

[im25xy]

“If Lacedaimon were ever laid waste and there remained only the foundations of the temples and the public buildings, those born into a world of the far future would find it difficult to believe that the power of Sparta had deserved its reputation”.

.Thucydides.


could someone please help me interpret what is meant by the quote?
is he reffering to us not respeceting sparta?

thanks!

 

[-may-cat-]

“If Lacedaimon were ever laid waste and there remained only the foundations of the temples and the public buildings, those born into a world of the far future would find it difficult to believe that the power of Sparta had deserved its reputation”.

.Thucydides.


could someone please help me interpret what is meant by the quote?
is he reffering to us not respeceting sparta?

thanks!

Not really, this quote is saying how Sparta was not grand in its buildings, temples, infrastructure etc, rather grand in other ways. The quote pretty much says this:

If sparta was ever destroyed and only bits of it remained, these bits would be of such lack lustre/poor quality, that future generations would never believe sparta held the power and prestiege that it did.

We associate power with Athens cuz when we see its remains, we can tell it was once a grand city full of beautiful marble buildings that were works of art in themselves (showing wealth>power), Thucydides is saying that sparta was not the beautiful grand city Athens was, but still held vast amounts of power.

 

[live.fast]

Took the words right out of my mouth.