Cross Cultural Exchanges Quotes

“The stories abounded, both recounting these cross-continental journeys and perhaps inspiring them – how Hellenic Jason gathered his Argonauts together (including Augeas, whose vast stables Herakles would be forced to clean) for adventure and profit, how he stopped off along the Bosphorus and discovered the land of the rising sun before other Greek heroes headed to Asia in search of Helen, Troy and glory. In the Homeric epics we hear of Jason travelling east where he tangles with Medea of Colchis, her aunt Circe and the feisty Amazon tribe. Lured by the promise of gold (early and prodigious metalworking did indeed take place in the region – perhaps sparking the Greek idea that the East was ‘rich in gold’) and then detained by the potions and poisons of Princess Medea, Jason succeeded in penetrating the Caucasus – a land which, in the Greek mind, wept with both peril and promise. It was here that Prometheus was chained to a rock with iron rivets for daring to steal fire from the gods. Archaeology east of Istanbul demonstrates how myth grazes history.”
― Bettany Hughes, Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities

“Part of me still thought these things were important, and was scared not to
have them. But part of me knew my life couldn’t be judged or summed up in quite that way. At some point I was going to have to stop comparing apples and oranges. If I wanted to be happy here, I was going to have to evaluate my life in Paris on its own terms.”
― Elizabeth Bard, Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes