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...system and set himself up as a tyrant, yet they also expected their leaders to come from an aristocratic background, and mocked politicians who had more humble origins. What to do about powerful individuals was a constant source of tension, and this explains the appeal of the heroes of myth. The heroes were the aristocrats of their own day, but were safely enclosed in the...

...think therefore I am”), scientists like Christiaan Huygens and Antonie van Leeuwenhoek invented telescopes and microscopes that made visible new worlds of experience. There was also an unusual degree of freedom of worship. Persecuted Jews from across Europe were given refuge in Amsterdam, while Non-Conformist Christian groups with radical views about Jesus Christ’s...