Ancient Killing Machines [Peter W. Petschauer]

Abstract:

In true psychohistorical fashion, I hope this proposal meshes history, psychology, and in this case poetry.

I will distribute and read my poem, “Ancient Killing Machines,” and then discuss how I arrived at this understanding of the viciousness of “my” Ancient heroes. Overlooking it, maybe excusing it, prepared the underlying attitudes and sensibilities of whole civilizations to tolerate 20th-century viciousness in Central Europe. It was especially men of the middle and upper classes that were affected by this attitude; they read the ancient accounts in Latin and Greek, as I did. A group fantasy of sorts penetrating deeply into our understanding of the world.

I may choose Briseis and Penelope to show how the fashion in which women were treated illustrates overall attitudes toward them and general ideals that reemerged in Italy and Germany.

Short bio:

Peter W. Petschauer, PhD, Dr.hc, Professor Emeritus of History, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC. He is the Scientific Advisory Board Member of German Association for Psychohistory and Political Psychologie (GPPP) and the Book Review Editor of Clio’s Psyche.

Dr. Petschauer is an author and poet, with books published in the US and internationally. Some of the published books include An Immigrant in the 1960s; Becoming an American in New York City (2020), Hopes and Fears, Past and Present (2019), A Perfect Portrait (2016), The Face of Evil; The Sustenance of Tradition (2014). His articles appear in Clio’s Psyche, The Journal of Psychohistory, and Jahrbuch für Psychohistorische Forschung.