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Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

to careen back to depths of slaughter

English answer:

War and destruction as contrast, alternating with splendor

    The asker opted for community grading. The question was closed on 2016-04-25 04:54:10 based on peer agreement (or, if there were too few peer comments, asker preference.)
Apr 21, 2016 09:56
8 yrs ago
English term

to careen back to depths of slaughter

English Art/Literary History History of Civilisations
For a thousand years after Cyrus, and well into the Common Era, Mesopotamia was incessantly catapulted to heights of splendor only to careen back to depths of slaughter as it passed from the alternating clutches of Alexander the Great of Greece, the Seleucid Greeks, the Parthian Empire, the Romans, and the Sassanid Persians.

What confuses me is the phrase "catapulted to heights of splendor only to careen back to depths of slaughter "
I have fgured out the incessant attacks against Babylonia by ancient empires but I could not re-phrase "to careen back to the depths of slaughter"

can you explain it please?
thanks in advance.

(Source: Edwin Black, The Farhud: Roots of the Arab-Nazi Alliance in the Holocaust)
Responses
4 +2 War and destruction as contrast, alternating with splendor

Discussion

Agneta Pallinder Apr 21, 2016:
catapult - careen I think the choice of verbs is also significant here - Mesopotamia is sent to the heights of splendor by outside forces, as by a catapult, then it lurches wildly (careens) back down into the depths of slaughter, almost as by gravity, or a force of nature - internal circumstances? sources of conflict?

Responses

+2
11 mins
Selected

War and destruction as contrast, alternating with splendor

The region alternates between heights of splendor and its contrasting counterpoint, the death and destruction brought on by wars.
Note from asker:
Thank you.
Peer comment(s):
agree Robert Forstag
58 mins
agree Yvonne Gallagher
1 hr
neutral B D Finch : I think that Agneta's comment about the use of "catapult" and "careen" is important here.
2 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks a lot..."
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