Weather History and Climate (400 B.C. to 350 B.C.)

450 B.C. to 400 B.C. | 400 B.C. to 350 B.C. | 350 B.C. to 300 B.C.

CLIMATE (400-350 B.C.):

Between 400 and 350 B.C., there was another very strong warm-wet maximum. Nevertheless. there is now more evidence of droughts. There are two places in the climate curve where droughts can be expected. The first is when temperature reaches a climax just before it turns cold. and the second is during the climax of the cold period. It often happens that droughts occurring during the climax of the cold period continue after it has turned warm again. That is. following the cold-dry phase of the cycle. temperatures rise ahead of rainfall. Thus. it is that a "hot" drought frequently follows a "cold" drought without any intervening wet years. In this case. however, the hot drought is usually a short one.

As the climate curve crosses Chart 5 it shows a fairly bad drought at the opening of the century which lasted through a drop in temperature. A short but not severe drought occurred at 375 immediately following a very high, warm-wet maximum. A short, cold drought occurred at 365, and a rather severe hot drought occurred between 355 and 350 B.C.

HISTORY (400-350 B.C.):

The warm-phase pattern of behavior prevailed most of the time during this fifty-year interval owing to the prevalence of warm temperatures. But not1ce how the trend toward the cold pattern developed suddenly during the brief drops in temperature at 395 and at 365. Another conspicuous feature is the outcropping of nation-building events around 390 (red items numbered in green). and also the evidence of increasing despotism and socialism. especially during the warm-dry periods (red items numbered in yellow).

The wars between the Greek City States broke out again and were now of the imperialistic pattern. Sparta reached the height of her power during the warm-wet phase of the 100-year cycle, but became a worse taskmaster over the weaker cities than Athens had ever been. The result of the war was a temporary victory for the city of Thebes. Again, during the cold periods, the subject cities rebelled against their rulers; party struggles in which religion often played a part. flared up.

Greek culture was now in a sad state of decline. Good government was practically unknown. Reactionary oligarchs and socialistic dictators held sway. The individual was indifferent to the welfare of the State. Vitality had disappeared from Greek art and literature. The moral tone of Greek life was sinking lower. The entire region was in dire financial straits. The situation was equivalent to a long. recurring depression. Too much socialism was not working. and neither was Fascism.

During the brief revival of political strength that occurred after 390 B.C., a race of people to the north of Greece (Macedonians) began to make its presence known. By 360 these people, under the leadership of Philip, were ready to launch conquering expeditions. The conquests of Philip II and then of his son Alexander (especially those of the latter), correspond to the conquests of Hitler. The Greek City States were full of traitors and fifth columnists. Conditions were chaotic in many places. Greek reactionaries welcomed the invader.

The outstanding cultural event of the period was the appearance of the philosopher Plato. Plato was a pupil of Socrates who in turn was the teacher of Aristotle. Scholars came from far and wide to study with Plato, whose thinking closely followed the organismic pattern outlined in the Introductory Chapter. No one since his time has been able to improve upon his theory of knowledge. beyond bringing it up to date. But in his famous "Republic," Plato advocated a socialistic State While there are many differences, there are also many very close likenesses between the State advocated by Plato and the Russian system today. Both the "Republic" and the Russian State were associated with similar weather trends. Politically and socially, Russian communism resembles Plato's "Republic" far more than it resembles the society proposed by Karl Marx. Plato, remember, lived during a period when socialism had reached one of its all time highs in history.

Information from Weather Science Foundation.