Legacies

Myth and legend illuminate human history as each generation draws inspiration from the lives and teaching of icon-like figures who channel the legacy of an epoch. In this book, Joan M. Erikson turns to classical Greece in search of three such mentors who have left an enduring imprint on western culture. We visit Prometheus enchained on a mountain crag and consider his remarkable steadfastness against tyranny and his concern for human beings. We then meet Orpheus, the shaman-like patron of all the arts whose influence hovers over the glory that once was Greece. Finally, we are offered an insightful developmental portrait of Socrates and a fascinating glimpse into the life and thought of that great Athenian philosopher, teacher, and martyr. A shadowy figure pervades this journey into the past and emerges into the present: Peitho, the Greek goddess of "persuasion." It is by means of her art that Prometheus, Orpheus, and Socrates made their messages "so clear, resounding, and memorable.". By inheriting the legacies of these ancient mentors we also inherit a responsibility - to use their gifts wisely. Erikson reflects on our urgent need to promote both local and global interrelationship, to strengthen ties to community, to discover persuasive means of negotiation beyond violence, and, above all, to preserve what remains of our planet's fragile ecological integrity.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.