In an intro to Antigone, H.D.F. Kitto, author of The Greeks, said that the idea of the gods can be 'a stumbling block'. He thought the modern reader would come closer to Sophocles' own thought, and consequently to his drama:
'if he thinks of them [the gods] as representing the immanent laws or conditions of human existence, those which we must obey or perish ... Man must not arrogantly suppose that he is in control and need no longer respect the restraints of religion' 1
Change that last word from 'religion' to 'Gaia' and Sophocles sounds very up-to-the-minute.
1 Sophocles: Three Tragedies (0UP, 1962)
Ancient Peruvian civilisation grew mighty by harvesting guano
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The Chincha Kingdom was transporting seabird excrement from islands to
valleys as early as the 13th century, and this powerful fertiliser may have
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