Decoded Past

It seems those ancient artists and historians were familiar with the insidious art of airbrushing! Perhaps they preferred to make Cleopatra a sexy trollop, rather than a philosopher, because it felt a whole lot safer that way!

Born at a time when Jews and Christians lived together in harmony under Muslim rule, the young Maimonides was forced to flee from a fanatical religious dynasty to pursue a turbulent but productive life in medieval Egypt.

Philosopher and Natural Scientist Thales believed that water gave birth to the Cosmos and that matter itself was a living thing, a theory he ‘proved’ through the properties of the simple magnet and of amber.

Santayana believed in celebrating life in all its aspects, but his anti-idealistic views on love, sex and beauty remained stuck in aesthetics and failed to grasp the value and meaning of genuine human bonding.

What can we learn today from the moral teachings of the great Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle? Actually, quite a lot, especially about ourselves!