About: Van Bryan
Van Bryan is a contributing writer for Classical Wisdom with a background in classical philosophy. He is the author of the special briefing, How to Be Happy: A Guide to Ancient Ethical Philosophy. He is a practicing Stoic.
Recent Posts by Van Bryan
The Myth of Daedalus and Icarus
The story of Daedalus and Icarus is a popular myth that recounts the escape from Crete by the crafty inventor Daedalus and his son Icarus. It is a story that is often attributed to the Roman poet Ovid in his magnum opus Metamorphoses. The general theme of the story involves the ingenuity and brilliance of man, and the misuse of
The Tragedy of Trump
By Van Bryan, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom Dear Reader, Today, we come to bury Caesar, not to praise him… We have witnessed the final act of a tragedy that would be the envy of Sophocles, Aeschylus, or Euripides. As with any good tragedy, it begins with a man of middling character. A man who crossed
#CancelCulture: Lessons from the Ancient World (PART 2)
Written by Van Bryan, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom Classical Wisdom for Modern Minds You remember our mandate. Here we believe classical wisdom can ring true for modern minds. The great minds of classical antiquity still have much to teach us. You need only show up to class. And if you’d like to know how this
#CancelCulture: Lessons from the Ancient World
Written by Van Bryan, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom Sometimes, late at night when we can hear the ocean outside our window, we wonder what the ancients would think of us… Would they be proud? Amused? Perplexed? Surely, we imagine, we won’t repeat ALL the mistakes of our classical forebearers. Somebody must have read Aristotle, Cicero,
Aristotle: Happiness is an Activity
Written by Van Bryan, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom “For contemplation is both the highest form of activity (since the intellect is the highest thing in us, and the objects that it apprehends are the highest things that can be known), and also it is the most continuous because we are more capable of continuous contemplation