Historic Victory

As U.S. forces surround the holy city of Najaf, and ponder an attack on the Shrine of Ali (begun in 977 AD), Americans would be wise to contemplate this moment of history:

On September 26, 1687, the Venetian commander Francesco Morosini had a problem in his on-going (third) war with the Ottoman Turks. He was in charge of a military force in Athens, and his enemies had secured their materiel in a place they regarded both as impregnable and sacrosanct. They had holed up in a mosque that had once been a church that had originally been a pagan temple. They had holed up in a structure that, although defiled by fire, earthquake, Romans, Christians, and Muslims, was fundamentally intact despite having been completed in 432 BC. Over two thousand years later, the building still stood: the crowning physical achievement of ancient Greek art, science, civilization – one of the "seven wonders of the ancient world."

His enemies were "holed up" in the Parthenon.

Morosini made his decision, and turned cannons on the Parthenon. He scored 800 direct hits, and stopped only when a fire he’d caused resulted in the explosion of the Ottoman powder magazine, finally destroying two-thirds of the building.

Congratulations, Signor Morosini! What an achievement! Future generations will be so grateful for your victory!

Now, what was it you were fighting about, again?

Here, FYI, is his bio, verbatim, from The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition (©2003): "Francesco Morosini, 1618–94, Italian soldier, doge of Venice (1688–94), of a family distinguished in Venice for five centuries. Made (1657) captain general of the fleet in a war with the Ottomans (1651–61), he conducted a brilliant campaign. He again fought against the Ottomans (1664–69) and was tried and acquitted for being defeated by them in Crete. In a subsequent war with the Ottomans (1684–88) he conquered the Peloponnesus (1687); under his leadership the Venetian empire had a brief revival."

Curious. No mention of the Parthenon! His victories made this man the 108th Doge of Venice! An Italian naval college is named for him even today! Yet here’s the net: Morosini chose to destroy one of the monuments of world civilization … so that "the Venetian empire had a brief revival."

And where are we headed?

August 20, 2004