{"id":122,"date":"2024-09-12T14:24:15","date_gmt":"2024-09-12T14:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/?p=122"},"modified":"2026-01-10T17:01:45","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T17:01:45","slug":"the-concept-of-inequality-as-a-legitimation-of-violence-in-early-european-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/2024\/09\/12\/the-concept-of-inequality-as-a-legitimation-of-violence-in-early-european-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Blog 11: The concept of inequality as a legitimation of violence in early European history"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\"\"<\/p>

  1. The Graeco-Roman heritage<\/li><\/ol>

    Since Germany only came into existence as a nation since 1870, we have to look at the Western European tribes if we want to go further back in history. Those tribes were themselves strongly influenced by the culture and ideology of the Greeks and Romans. From the ancient Greek Empire, we find a quote by the philosopher Aristotle, who defined the concept of rule and the order of the state community in his book ‘Politica’. In this context Aristotle makes the following statement:<\/p>

    \u2018From this it follows that even warfare is by nature a form of acquisition – for the art of hunting is part of it – which is applied against wild animals and against those men who are not prepared to be ruled, even though they are born to subjection, in so far as this war is just by nature\u2019.<\/p>

    ( Aristotle 384-322 BC in Isaac 2006: 40).<\/p>

    Aristotle distinguishes here between people who are born to be subjugated and those who are born to subjugate. This statement shows that a sense of general social interconnectedness had already been lost several hundred years before the birth of Christ. It also becomes clear that a perspective, that assumes inequality as inherent, can be used to legitimise violence.<\/p>

    The historian Benjamin Isaac describes how this concept of inequality in Greek society was a fundamental element in the idea and political practice of imperialism, which was later adopted and adapted by the Romans (Isaac, 2006). In this context, Isaac mentions texts by Aristotle, Vitruvius and Vegetius.<\/p>

    The conviction that the concept of inequality formulated by Aristotle, which made imperialism possible, also formed the basis for the genocide of National Socialism, is confirmed by the literary scholar Vincent P. Pecora. Pecora (1992) links the notion and practice of imperialism that developed in Western Europe with anti-Semitism because both are based on a perspective in which the interconnectivity of humanity is not recognised, leading towards the facilitation of violence against those that are perceived as \u2018others\u2019. In his opinion, there is an urgent need to recognise \u2018the West\u2019s massive centuries-old, and increasingly effective persecution of its \u2018others\u2019 \u2019 (Pecora 1992: 161).<\/p>

    For the literary scholar Peter Haidu (1992), a perspective in which the \u2018other\u2019 is perceived as alien, leads towards \u2018desubjectivisation\u2019 and is a precondition to violence. Haidu refers to Himmler\u2019s speech that prepared the SS for the \u2018Final Solution\u2019 and points out that this perspective was the basic legitimising principle. Himmler\u2019s main efforts were to prevent a possible identification with the other and to promote their desubjectivisation (Haidu 1992: 291).<\/p>

    In the next blog we will look at how the ideologies and practices of Roman imperialism spread within Western European tribes after the fall of the Roman Empire.<\/p>

    \u00a0<\/p>

    Bibliography<\/strong><\/p>

    Aristoteles. (n.d.). Book 1. In Politics<\/em> (p. 1256B).<\/p>

    Haidu, P. (1992). The dialectics of Unspeakability: Language, Silence, and the Narratives of Desubjectification. In S. Friedlander (Ed.), Probing the limits of cultural representation<\/em> (p. 277). Cambridge: Havard UP.<\/p>

    Isaac, B. (2006). ‘Proto-Racism in Greaco-Roman Antiquity’. World Archaeology, 1<\/em>(38), 32-47.<\/p>

    Pecora, V. P. (1992). ‘Habermas, Enlightenment and Antisemitism’. In Probing the limits of cultural representation<\/em> (p. 161). Cambridge: Harvard UP.<\/p>

    \u00a0<\/p>

    Images<\/strong><\/p>

    https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/ie\/en\/ebook\/politica-24<\/u><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Graeco-Roman heritage Since Germany only came into existence as a nation since 1870, we have to look at the Western European tribes if we want to go further back in history. Those tribes were themselves strongly influenced by the culture and ideology of the Greeks and Romans. From the ancient Greek Empire, we find […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nBlog 11: The concept of inequality as a legitimation of violence in early European history - Trauma, violence and the Legacy of the Holocaust<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/2024\/09\/12\/the-concept-of-inequality-as-a-legitimation-of-violence-in-early-european-history\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blog 11: The concept of inequality as a legitimation of violence in early European history - Trauma, violence and the Legacy of the Holocaust\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Graeco-Roman heritage Since Germany only came into existence as a nation since 1870, we have to look at the Western European tribes if we want to go further back in history. Those tribes were themselves strongly influenced by the culture and ideology of the Greeks and Romans. From the ancient Greek Empire, we find […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/2024\/09\/12\/the-concept-of-inequality-as-a-legitimation-of-violence-in-early-european-history\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Trauma, violence and the Legacy of the Holocaust\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-12T14:24:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-10T17:01:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Blog11_aristotle.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/2024\/09\/12\/the-concept-of-inequality-as-a-legitimation-of-violence-in-early-european-history\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/2024\/09\/12\/the-concept-of-inequality-as-a-legitimation-of-violence-in-early-european-history\/\",\"name\":\"Blog 11: The concept of inequality as a legitimation of violence in early European history - Trauma, violence and the Legacy of the Holocaust\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/2024\/09\/12\/the-concept-of-inequality-as-a-legitimation-of-violence-in-early-european-history\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/2024\/09\/12\/the-concept-of-inequality-as-a-legitimation-of-violence-in-early-european-history\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Blog11_aristotle.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-12T14:24:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-10T17:01:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/#\/schema\/person\/6a402b94de4806c56887bf4a41e7bf10\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/2024\/09\/12\/the-concept-of-inequality-as-a-legitimation-of-violence-in-early-european-history\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/2024\/09\/12\/the-concept-of-inequality-as-a-legitimation-of-violence-in-early-european-history\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/2024\/09\/12\/the-concept-of-inequality-as-a-legitimation-of-violence-in-early-european-history\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Blog11_aristotle.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Blog11_aristotle.png\",\"width\":315,\"height\":308},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/2024\/09\/12\/the-concept-of-inequality-as-a-legitimation-of-violence-in-early-european-history\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Blog 11: The concept of inequality as a legitimation of violence in early European history\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/\",\"name\":\"Trauma, violence and the Legacy of the Holocaust\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/#\/schema\/person\/6a402b94de4806c56887bf4a41e7bf10\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/202e9af26ee0d222c24c0ddb12276f01d3e27a024928d49f011a2eae8a24018b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/202e9af26ee0d222c24c0ddb12276f01d3e27a024928d49f011a2eae8a24018b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/author\/admin_e1rebb60\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Blog 11: The concept of inequality as a legitimation of violence in early European history - Trauma, violence and the Legacy of the Holocaust","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/2024\/09\/12\/the-concept-of-inequality-as-a-legitimation-of-violence-in-early-european-history\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Blog 11: The concept of inequality as a legitimation of violence in early European history - Trauma, violence and the Legacy of the Holocaust","og_description":"The Graeco-Roman heritage Since Germany only came into existence as a nation since 1870, we have to look at the Western European tribes if we want to go further back in history. Those tribes were themselves strongly influenced by the culture and ideology of the Greeks and Romans. From the ancient Greek Empire, we find […]","og_url":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/2024\/09\/12\/the-concept-of-inequality-as-a-legitimation-of-violence-in-early-european-history\/","og_site_name":"Trauma, violence and the Legacy of the Holocaust","article_published_time":"2024-09-12T14:24:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-10T17:01:45+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Blog11_aristotle.png"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/2024\/09\/12\/the-concept-of-inequality-as-a-legitimation-of-violence-in-early-european-history\/","url":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/2024\/09\/12\/the-concept-of-inequality-as-a-legitimation-of-violence-in-early-european-history\/","name":"Blog 11: The concept of inequality as a legitimation of violence in early European history - Trauma, violence and the Legacy of the Holocaust","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/2024\/09\/12\/the-concept-of-inequality-as-a-legitimation-of-violence-in-early-european-history\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/2024\/09\/12\/the-concept-of-inequality-as-a-legitimation-of-violence-in-early-european-history\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Blog11_aristotle.png","datePublished":"2024-09-12T14:24:15+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-10T17:01:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/#\/schema\/person\/6a402b94de4806c56887bf4a41e7bf10"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/2024\/09\/12\/the-concept-of-inequality-as-a-legitimation-of-violence-in-early-european-history\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/2024\/09\/12\/the-concept-of-inequality-as-a-legitimation-of-violence-in-early-european-history\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/2024\/09\/12\/the-concept-of-inequality-as-a-legitimation-of-violence-in-early-european-history\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Blog11_aristotle.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Blog11_aristotle.png","width":315,"height":308},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/2024\/09\/12\/the-concept-of-inequality-as-a-legitimation-of-violence-in-early-european-history\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Blog 11: The concept of inequality as a legitimation of violence in early European history"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/#website","url":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/","name":"Trauma, violence and the Legacy of the Holocaust","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/#\/schema\/person\/6a402b94de4806c56887bf4a41e7bf10","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/202e9af26ee0d222c24c0ddb12276f01d3e27a024928d49f011a2eae8a24018b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/202e9af26ee0d222c24c0ddb12276f01d3e27a024928d49f011a2eae8a24018b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish"],"url":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/author\/admin_e1rebb60\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":309,"href":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions\/309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crinklefilms.ie\/blogenglish\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}