Cyrus H. Gordon: Quotes about people

“We shall have to bear in mind that the gulf separating classical Israel (of the great Prophets) from classical Greece (of the scientists and philosophers) must not be read back into the heroic age when both peoples formed part of the same international complex.”

Cyrus H. Gordon

Introduction
The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilizations (1965 [1962])
Context: The customs of both the Greeks and Hebrews in that heroic age were often alien to their respective descendants in the classical periods. We shall have to bear in mind that the gulf separating classical Israel (of the great Prophets) from classical Greece (of the scientists and philosophers) must not be read back into the heroic age when both peoples formed part of the same international complex.

People , Age , Reading , Parting

“The Greeks viewed the Mediterranean not as a barrier but as a network of routes connecting people who dwelt along its shores.”

Cyrus H. Gordon

Introduction
The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilizations (1965 [1962])
Context: The Greeks viewed the Mediterranean not as a barrier but as a network of routes connecting people who dwelt along its shores. This is familiar to any student of Greece.... the Hebrews express themselves similarly in passages like Psalm 8: 9 ("crossing the paths of the seas").

People

“The excavators cleared out one of the ancient cisterns, and a few of the winter rains sufficed to fill the cistern with enough water to supply the expedition with water for the whole season. This illustrates the possibilities of almost any country, provided the right kind of people are there.”

Cyrus H. Gordon

Source: Adventures in the Nearest East (1957), Ch.1 Exploring Edom and Moab
Context: The excavators cleared out one of the ancient cisterns, and a few of the winter rains sufficed to fill the cistern with enough water to supply the expedition with water for the whole season. This illustrates the possibilities of almost any country, provided the right kind of people are there. With energetic people, the few, but heavy, winter rains and be stretched a long, long way.

People , Water , Winter , Country

“Manslaughter was requited through blood revenge. Accordingly the offender, to escape the avenger, would be forced to flee, cut off from his land and people, at the mercy of strangers far from home.”

Cyrus H. Gordon

Introduction
The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilizations (1965 [1962])
Context: Manslaughter was requited through blood revenge. Accordingly the offender, to escape the avenger, would be forced to flee, cut off from his land and people, at the mercy of strangers far from home. [Examples are] 2 Samuel (14: 5-7)... Iliad a6: 571-574... Odyssey (15: 271-278)... (Genesis 4: 14)... (Genesis 4: 15)

People , Home , Revenge

“Transjordan, or Palestine east of the Jordan Rift is not sufficiently known and has therefore been in need of archeological study. …these nations in antiquity belonged to a group of people called the Canaanites. Culturally and linguistically they were practically identical with the Judean and Israelite 'Canaanites' west of the Rift.”

Cyrus H. Gordon

Source: Adventures in the Nearest East (1957), Ch.1 Exploring Edom and Moab

People , Study

“Just as Mycenaean civilisation is a development of the Minoan, so too the Philistines who came to Palestine from Caphtor were an offshoot of the same general Aegean civilisation. …until David's victories around 1000 B. C., the Philistines dominated the Hebrews, so that, militarily at least, the Davidic monarchy was the Hebrew response to the Philistine stimulus. …the Achaeans, Trojans, Philistines and Hebrews during the closing centuries of the second millennium belonged to the same international complex of peoples, sharing many conventions and institutions, specifically in military matters.”

Cyrus H. Gordon

Introduction
The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilizations (1965 [1962])

People , Victory

“The fitness (physical and moral) of kings were serious matters, for they were believed to bring on a corresponding state of land and people.”

Cyrus H. Gordon

Source: The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilizations (1965 [1962]), Ch.VII Further Observations on Homer