Civilazation

Creation by Gore Vidal

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Introduction

Creation is based on the journeys of Cyrus Spitama in his quest to study and thus be in a position to evaluate and thus contrast the diverse political, philosophical and religious viewpoints of the states that existed during his time. As an envoy of Persia, Spitama got the opportunity of travelling far and wide in order to give credibility to his quest. In the travels, he met many significant figures; for instance Confucius, Socrates and Buddha; who helped to enrich his pursuit. Being an envoy of Persia, Spitama was expected to set up ways in which Persia could improve trade and other economic ventures with the other states, but he saw it as an opportunity to feed his desire to study the different religious and political systems. Being knowledgeable in several languages enabled him to successfully study the diverse cultures and come up with conclusions regarding them. This paper intends to use material from Creation to compare the religions and philosophies of the Persian and Chinese Empires with the Indian kingdoms and the Greek city states as noted by Spitama (NEILSON, 2002).

Cyrus Spitama and his quest

Of the figures he encountered in his travels, Spitama seemed to approve of Confucius more because he appeared to be identifying himself with him. He was greatly esteemed by Confucius’ educational credentials to the extent of asserting that Confucius had made himself proficient in the past in order to be valuable in the current. He also gave the impression of identifying with the philosophers’ political disappointment in that he could not hold any valid political authority because he was born in an underprivileged family and thus could not be granted any power. Confucius had no option but to rely on those that were conceived where power mattered and thus he could only apply his extensive political proficiency if those in power allowed him to. Confucius spent his...